Team of Two
by Surpise
Summary: Kurama was an arrogant, prideful and self-righteous, evil Bijuu, or at least that's how everyone saw him. After the defeat by Yondaime, he changes for the better. How would the story of Uzumaki Naruto turn out of he and Kyuubi developed a relationship similar to Bee and Hachibi at a young age? Intelligent/Strong Naruto, Good Kyuubi/Kurama. NarutoXHarem, Sasuke Bashing till Ch6.
1. A New Approach

A/N:

Hello to everyone who has decided to grace this story with your eyes and your presence, I am truly happy unless you actually decide to hate this story, but oh well. Just a few things i would like to clear up before you start reading.

Anyway, this is my first attempt at a Naruto fanfiction, in truth I actually use to hate on Naruto, but one day I decided to give it a go, and I actually found myself finishing the anime and Manga in no less than a month. The irony eh? Haha, never pictured myself writing a Naruto fanfiction if I had a gun to my head, haha.

Anyway, this story is basically what would happen if Naruto and Kurama developed a partner/bond relationship at an early age like Bee and Hachibi, or kind of a similar relationship to what he has now during the fourth shinobi world war.

So yes, this is a story where Naruto is going to be really strong on terms, of Sannin level and will rival Orochimaru and other Kage. However this doesn't mean that he is or ever will be Godlike because he **WONT** be. Yes he will have Kyuubi/Kurama aiding him, but he will have trouble with people like Pein and Obito/Tobi, Madara etc. Like in the summary he will be strong and intelligent and YES this is a NarutoxHarem, there will be a number of girls of my choosing, and I will develop their relationships, they wont just fall head over heels for him, except for maybe a select few.

Also actually like Sakura as a character, she will not be bashed in this fic, instead she will develop a strong bond with Naruto that if I decide later on, will be turned into a girl in the Harem. I don't generally get why she's bashed other than the fact that she's a Sasuke fan-girl and that shes a weak annoying character in the series, but in this fic I plan to rectify that. She will start out as a Sasuke fan-girl but she will change extremely quickly.

And lastly, yes Sasuke Bashing, so sorry if your a Sasuke fan, I have nothing against you and I will not judge you for your like of Sasuke, we all have our opinions on him, just like there are people that hate Naruto as a character, I just generally hate Sasuke and want him to die in the most painful way possible so he will be the scapegoat of this story. So if your a Sasuke fan, this isn't the story for you and I advise you go find another story.

Anyway, that's all the ranting I will do for now, On with the story!

* * *

Chapter One

He was running, as fast as he could. His little seven year old legs were starting to give out. He hated this day, today was the worst day of his life, well, every time this day comes around, he feared it and always tried to hide, but they always managed to find him.

The screams, the insults, the curses were being thrown at him from every direction as he ran for his life. Why was his life like his? Why was he always called "The Demon"? From the stolen manga he would often pick up and read if he had the chance, he didn't look anything like those evil, horn bearing devils that ran around with tails and pitch forks.

No he just simply looked like a boy, a boy with blonde hair, and three whisker marks on both of his cheeks. His deep blue eyes didn't give away any demonic aura or anything like that; he had two arms and two legs, clothes and a nice outgoing personality. However no matter how hard he tried, people would stare at him, throw things at him, as if he were a walking plague.

Why was he so different?

What made him so distinctively different that people marked him this way? This had been happening for as long as he could remember, and up till now he had accepted it, and proudly said that he was going to become the Hokage one day and prove to everyone he was worthy of acceptance.

There were times he hated the villagers, there were times he wanted to gorge their throats out and leave nothing behind but a bloody mess of flesh and bone but those were just revenge thoughts that spawned in moments like these. He was running from a mob, of villagers and ninja so to speak.

He sped around corners, vaulted over fences and ran in any way he could to try and loose these people that wanted to claim his life. He wished Hokage-Jiji could save him any time now. These nights were like a nightmare that he just couldn't wake up from. He would turn and find the killing intent too much to bear as he kept running, tears staining his baby soft cheeks.

He finally pushed through and ran into a shinobi training ground. For which one it did not matter as he ran towards the gate and vaulted over it and ran into what looked like a forest. He kept running and running until finally he could hear no one behind him.

The boy had disappeared from the sight of the pursuing ninja but they were no fools. Despite wanting to destroy that demon for all he was worth, venturing into training ground forty four was absolute suicide. No ninja chuunin or below would even think about taking a few steps into that forest, let alone a villager.

"Stop!" One of the leading Chuunin ninja's yelled as the mob stopped outside the fence of training ground forty four. They all looked at the ninja in question would mild annoyance.

"Why the hell should we stop!? That demon child must be dealt with!" One of the villagers yelled as the others immediately cheered in agreement, some of the shinobi backed away with haste from the fence blocking the mob from the forest.

"Well, be my guest if you want to follow that demon in there, but that's the forest of death… more than likely you will get yourself killed. Don't worry; he's more than likely to die now that he's in there… Our job is done." One of the chuunin said as they all turned to find the Hokage standing behind the crowd with a frightening large number of ANBU standing behind them.

"H-Hokage-sama! T-This isn't w-what it looks l-like!" The leading chuunin spluttered with fear at the killing intent his leader was emitting at the mob of villagers and stray shinobi. The Hokage gave no emotion as he opened his mouth to give a command.

"ANBU, seize everyone in this group, villagers and shinobi alike and escort them to the I&T department, make sure Ibiki and Anko discipline this lot of… trash and make sure that they don't every think about doing this again." The Hokage ordered. The second he gave the order, the ANBU were on the mob like flies over left over food; in a matter of seconds, all the villagers and stray shinobi from Genin to Chuunin were tied up and already being escorted to the worst place in Konohagakure for anyone to be.

The Hokage turned to two trust-worthy ANBU who stood at his side, kneeled down, awaiting orders.

"Neko, Dog, find the tracks of Naruto-kun and bring him back safely, do not leave until you at least… find a body." The Hokage said with a grim frown, not believing he could have said those words. It was his job to keep him safe and right now he had been doing a slack job at it, so life as a Hokage was always, there are just so many things that you will eventually lose track of one more little blonde boy with whiskers.

"Hai Hokage-sama!" They both said before disappearing leaving the Hokage alone standing outside the Forest of death, hoping for the best news possible.

" _Minato, Kushina… I am already failing your last wishes… dam these villagers, they just cannot see past hate!"_ One Sarutobi Hiruzen thought as he clenched his fists tightly, his knuckles going white with rage. After those final thoughts, he disappeared with a swirl of leaves, heading back to the office where mountains of paper work would greet him.

* * *

Naruto had come to a slow walk as he continued through the forest, looking back every few seconds just to make sure no one was following him. His eyes were like pinballs, darting to what ever made the slightest of nose. He was scared beyond belief at where he was, it was so dark he could barely see a few feet in front of his own face. He was also very cold, his shirt was drenched in sweat which was now freezing his skin as cold winds would rush past him and make him shiver.

As he continued to walk, he thought as to how he ended up here, normally he was saved at the last second by people wearing masks, and a particular one kept popping up, a cat mask that the person wore and he had come to call Neko-nee-chan because of the person's feminine voice. He wished she was here with him right now, because he was frightened, he just wanted this to end, he just wanted to go home and sleep in his bed and eat Ramen. Instead, get gets stuck in this scary dark forest with strange noises popping up all around him.

He felt like he was being hunted, a sick sense of blood-lust would occur behind him, but when he would turn, he would find only darkness. He kept on going though, hoping to find an exit to this dark hell. The silence was killing him, he wanted to be able to hear people again, he wanted to go to Ichiraku's and ask the old man for his favorite dish, Miso Ramen with extra pork.

His stomach growled as he rubbed it and wiped some dried tears out of his eyes. He stopped and looked around, he was lost, hopelessly lost and from the way he was going now, he seemed to get only deeper and deeper into the forest and his chances of survival were slim to none and he knew it. A child exposed to the horrors of the world at a young age, but having the courage to stand up to those horrors and tell them he was going to conquer them and become Hokage… the boy had real spirit, but there is only so much a seven year old can do.

Sooner he heard another growl, but this didn't come from his stomach, he turned around slowly, to face the largest bear he had ever seen. He hadn't seen a bear at all, except from some nature and wildlife books he had read with little interest and he knew that a bear this size was unnatural.

Naruto backed up, wide eyed and whimpering, fresh tears coming to his eyes as he fumbled backwards. The bear only seemed to come closer, his bloodthirsty red eyes screaming for blood and food as it walked forward, eyeing Naruto as if he were a piece of meat.

Naruto turned and ran, screaming for his life. He heard growls and huffs from the bear as it gave chase to the young blonde. Naruto turned his head to see the bear, to close, it was a few feet behind him, but he could see through the darkness that this wasn't the case; the bear was only toying with its food as it ran faster. Naruto turned his head back and closed his eyes, his eyes watering.

He didn't want to die; it was too early for him…

He hadn't even made Hokage yet…

Scratch that, he wasn't even a ninja yet.

He wasn't even ten, his life had barely begun.

Naruto then lost his footing as he suddenly felt himself falling, but there was no ground to catch his fall. Naruto had stumbled off a small cliff. He feel, screaming for help, but on the way down, the back of his head hit something solid.

He stopped screaming as his vision blurred, his body felt light, all energy drained from the boy, he was surprised that he had managed to go on for so long. He always knew he had abnormal stamina, and that he kept playing for hours when other kids would tire out after about an hour and a half. As he fell, he felt his eyelids closing.

"_It's not fair… why couldn't I live long enough to become Hokage? Am I… Am I really- a demon? Is this the fate of demons?"_ Naruto thought as he fell. It had only been a few seconds before he hit some cold and wet. It engulfed up, swallowing him and pulling him down under and along. He had fallen into a river that led to god knows where, but that wasn't on Naruto's mind right now, all he wanted to do was live and become acknowledged, to become Hokage and become the best ninja in the world, surpassing the Yondaime. However to Naruto, it seemed it had all been taken from him before he even had the chance to try.

Slowly, darkness took the boy as he sank further and further into the icy cold water and into what he thought was the next life.

* * *

_Drip_

Naruto's feelings and nerves had come back to life, but he refused to open his eyes, he was lying in water. Perhaps the river had washed him up somewhere in the forest?

_Drip_

What was that sound? It echoed as if he was in some kind of enclosed room or hallway, it felt strange, he could feel something, something heavy and thick, like the air was stale and hard.

_Drip_

There it was again, that sound he wasn't in the forest anymore otherwise he would be hearing some kind of water flow if he had washed up on a back somewhere.

_Drip_

Slowly Naruto opened his eyes, snapping them open instantly as he sat up and looked around. He was in some kind of swear, a hallway with a number of walkways leading to other places. His hands went to the back of his head where he thought he had hit something on his fall down to the river. He was surprised when he felt no bump… but then again he did have a knack for healing rather quickly after taking beatings from mobs and stray ninja he would come across.

Naruto slowly got to his feet and started off down the hallway, looking around in case a threat would approach and he wasn't prepared. He was going to be a ninja, or would be a ninja, he would have to keep his senses up if he was going to stay alive, or stay or of harm if he wasn't already dead.

He came to a dark tunnel and looked down it. What was different from these tunnels was the fact that he felt some enormous pressure coming from down this one. It felt heavy, like a fire was pressing down on you, making you want to take the closest weapon and end your life just to escape. Naruto just stood there looking down the hallway, he wasn't sure if he wanted to move or not, but he wanted to know, he needed to know what was down there, as if some instinct was telling him.

Slowly he started off down this tunnel and in no time, he entered a large room, so large it could almost be taller than the Hokage tower, if not several times bigger. In this room stood a large cage, and in the middle of this cage, a slip of paper was stuck to the middle of it, with the Kanji "Seal" written on it.

"**Come closer child.**" A voice said. A bead of cold sweat rolled down the back of Naruto's neck as he swallowed the fear and approached the cage, he had no idea what was on the other side, but if the size of the cage said anything to the young blonde, it was that whatever was on the other side was easily taller than a few buildings if not more.

After a few steps, Naruto stopped and refused to go any further, his common sense screaming at him to halt his position immediately and watch carefully. He focused on the cage and looked past it into the darkness. After a while his eyes widened as the largest fox he had even seen, lay on the other side with a bored expression on its face. The fox was eyeing the boy carefully, as if calculating the child's movements.

Naruto took notice of the large nine tails that seemed to have a mind of their own and wave about around the back of the large fox. Naruto felt all the confidence slip from his once standing position and fell backwards, landing on his behind and trying to crawl away without breaking eye contact with the fox.

Those eyes seemed to paralyze him to a point where the emotion of fear felt like it was going to take over and kill him itself. Naruto's mouth quivered as he felt hot tears rush to his eyes as he started to cry once more. The fox seemed to notice this and chuckle in almost an amused tone.

**"You fear me, don't you child?"** It asked. It wasn't a question; it was more like a confirmation as it read the blondes actions carefully. Naruto seemed to nod slowly as it smiled and shifted its position and lay in an almost relaxed posture, like a dog lying on a couch.

**"Do you know what I am?"** The question seemed to answer itself, how could Naruto not know of the great and powerful Kyuubi? The demon fox of nine tails, strongest of all Bijuu and the very same monster that attacked the village of Konohagakure? It was common knowledge that the Yondaime had killed the monster and given his life at the same time to save the village, but if that was true… then why was he here? Where ever this place was anyway.

"K-Kyuubi." Naruto seemed to stutter out. Now he could actually say that he was truly frightened, forget the villagers, forget the forest with weird noises, this was the Kyuubi! The great nine tailed fox, capable of destroying his existence with the flick of its paw! Scratch that, Naruto wouldn't be surprised if something so powerful was able to destroy his very being with a mere thought.

"What d-do you w-want from m-me?" Naruto asked, fearing to break eye contact with the demon that was lying so casually across from him in a cage. The fox closed its eyes as if it was contemplating something. Naruto could see the fox was thinking, it wanted something from Naruto that was for sure.

**"I simply want to talk with you."** Kyuubi replied in an almost bored tone. Naruto was wondering what the hell the fox wanted to talk with him about. The strongest Bijuu… wanted to talk with him? He wasn't sure to be honored or absolutely shaking with fear. Naruto managed to finally gather his wits and courage to stand back up again and face the fox. Kyuubi seemed to smile at him; it was almost unnerving that the fox was being so… calm about this. He had heard stories about its rage, strong enough to take form and burn forests, crush villagers, shatter mountains, but here it was, just lying in a cage asking if he would talk with him.

"Okay, what… do you want to talk to me about?" Naruto seemed to ask with the utmost care, making sure he wouldn't disrespect the fox in anyway. He didn't want to die, well for all he knew so far he was already dead, but he didn't want to die twice.

**"Your life… more specifically, why it is like the pitiful state it is in now, who put you in this position and a proposition I would like to make with you at the end, which by the time I have finished, you will be quite interest to know."**Kyuubi replied. Naruto seemed to raise an eyebrow forgetting his fear of the fox for a few seconds.

How could the fox know about his life? Did he know what the villagers do to him almost every day? There were so many questions running through his head right now to be sure what to ask of the great fox Bijuu.

"Kyuubi-san, could you please explain to me what's going on? Where am I and how do you know about my life?" Naruto asked, he seemed to forget the fear, the way the fox was speaking to him was strange but he may as well talk politely back. This fox was seemingly one of the _very_ few people that actually talked to him like a person, other people just scowl at him and tell him to scram and run off somewhere else.

**"Of course, right now we are in what I would call a Dream World. This place is based off your feelings and emotions, an easier way to say it that this place would be your mind, which is where I am currently held prisoner, thanks to your Fourth Hokage."** Kyuubi said. Naruto's eyebrows furrowed as he learned this information.

Prisoner… what the hell was the Kyuubi doing as a prisoner inside his head? What did the Yondaime do to put the Kyuubi inside of him? Was this the truth?

**"To understand the story of how I ended up here, we have to go back seven years to when I attacked your village, on the night of your birth… But to know the full story, first you must know about your parents."** Kyuubi said eyeing the blonde child with mild amusement when he said parents.

Naruto's eyes widened when he heard the Kyuubi mention his parents. It was something he had wanted to know his whole life! He had asked Hokage-Jiji thousands of times, even begged, but the old man said he knew nothing about his parents and that they were heroes and died in the Kyuubi attack.

"You know many parents!?" Naruto almost shouted. Kyuubi smiled slightly, the excitement of children, such innocence, but innocence in Naruto was all but non-existent. Naruto was beaten, kicked out of stores, thrown out of the orphanage all because they thought he was a demon. Naruto was forced to grow up quickly, but he still kept some of his childish antiques.

**"Of course I know them, I spent some time trapped inside one of them… well your mother anyway, her name was Kushina Uzumaki, she was my previous vessel, although I have to admit, being impaled by chains just to keep me locked up was painful, but yes, she was your mother."** Kyuubi said as he watched the child's excitement. Tears began to form in Naruto's eyes, but they were tears of joy, finally he had a name, he could work off that and find out more about her later.

"And what about Tou-san, did you know him as well?" Naruto asked with almost a childlike sparkle to his eyes. Kyuubi was amused at the child acting like a child for once in a long time. Ever since Naruto was cast out of the orphanage and even before that, he always had to watch his own back, forced to grow up into the shoes of a responsible adult and care for himself. Kyuubi shifted slightly, grumbling before he answered.

**"Your father… was a great man in the eyes of mortals, he was a hero, and after all he was the one that put me here."** Kyuubi said with a mild evil grin. He watched as Naruto put two and two together from the previous statement he had made. Naruto heard Kyuubi say that the Yondaime Hokage gave up his life to save the village, defeating Kyuubi and putting him inside of his head… but Kyuubi was saying his…father did… that.

Naruto's eyes widened in absolute shock and disbelief as he processed the information and then came to the shocking conclusion that he couldn't believe.

"_My father was the… Yondaime Hokage?! I don't believe it! How can someone so respected in the village sacrifice himself for his son, and then for everyone in the village to hate that son?! Did I do something wrong? Am I the reason my father is dead and everyone hates me?"_ Naruto thought as a mixture of tears, both happy and sorrow flooded his eyes once again.

**"Naruto… The villagers hate you because they think you are me. They think that me being sealed into you makes you me. It's common for villagers to misunderstand, but since you are also tormented by ninja, it's wrong and they should know better. Our situation is no different than a kunai and a scroll. If I am the kunai and you are the scroll, when the kunai gets sealed into the scroll, does that make the scroll a kunai? It's a simple matter of misunderstanding of how sealing works." **Kyuubi explained to the child who was staring at his own reflection in the floor.

Naruto looked up at Kyuubi, staring him dead in the eyes, not even fearing the fox anymore, he felt so dead inside for some reason. He finally knew why he was hated by everyone; he was hated, ostracized, beaten, and hunted because of this fox being sealed inside of him.

"But I'm not you… that are so unfair, how can they think I'm you and not Uzumaki Naruto! I'm me, not you, just as you are you and not me!" Naruto said trying to explain the situation to himself. Kyuubi grumbled a little.

**"You are exactly right, but they fear what I did to their precious village. I'm not going to lie to you Naruto, I killed a lot of people when I _attacked_ the village, and they villages fear me because what I can do, and fear spawns anger and anger spawns ignorance… it's just how you humans are."** Kyuubi said. Naruto looked at Kyuubi with new found hate which Kyuubi shrugged off, he had received worse, but he would rather keep a nice good relationship with his new jailor if he was going to get him to agree to the proposition at the end of the story.

"Why the hell did you attack the village then!? Weren't you supposed to be sealed inside my Kaa-chan? Why did you get out and attack the village!?" Naruto growled at the Bijuu. Kyuubi had to admit, this kid was making progress in getting rid of fear, not ten minutes ago had he been quivering on the floor, almost pleading for mercy.

**"It was not a matter of what my agenda was with your village, it was a matter of someone else's stupid plot for revenge, from what I can tell. During pregnancy, a female Jinchuriki's seal is weakened to the point where it is possible for the Bijuu to escape from its host. I had a similar chance when you mother was giving birth to you, however your father was keeping the seal in place so it was rather hard to break free.**

**At the time, I was filled with rage, anger, I wanted to destroy everything when I escape, and I wanted to kill everything I could find. When I did escape however, your mother had already given birth and the seal was rebuilding itself back to normal…**

**However, I found that I was more or less forced out of your mothers seal and when I got out, I find my freedom is shortly lived as a man with a single red eye that hid behind an orange swirled mask. That eye reminded me of one man, a man called Uchiha Madara. Before I even realized what had happened, I was pulled into a Genjutsu and was force to do that mans every command.**

**I was then summoned to your village, and with no control over my body, I was commanded to lay waste to it, but luckily your father managed to sever that Genjutsu and my mind was returned to my control. However before I could make my escape, I was pinned down by leaf shinobi and eventually I found myself pinned down by your mother's famous chakra chains and before I even knew it, I was sealed into you."** Kyuubi explained. Naruto was trying to see if the Kyuubi was lying in anyway just to try and get good leeway with him, but the story seemed too connected and consistent to be made up, on the other hand, if he really was sealed into him at birth, he had seven years to come up with a decent excuse. However, Naruto was willing to give Kyuubi the benefit of the doubt, whether or not it would kill him later, he didn't care, his life was garbage anyway but that didn't mean he wouldn't give up on his dream to become Hokage!

**"At first, I was in a rage; I couldn't believe I was sealed again! I tried to find every loop hole I could in this seal and claw my way out even if I killed you, at the time I couldn't care less for an insignificant child like you, I found myself to mighty and two powerful to be held down by a mere child."** Kyuubi chuckled as if it was a memory he was looking back on and laughing at how stupid he had been. Naruto just seemed to glare at the large fox for saying such harsh things about him.

**"But after a while I found none, and I resigned to my fate as yet again, I was sealed, with no way out. After a year or two, I started to think, I started to contemplate why it seems to be like this, why the greatest of Bijuu such as myself has to get captured and sealed into a human like some sort of monster, force to become a weapon for a village of shinobi. As the more I thought, the more I came to realize that my rage was clouding my judgement, all I thought about was killing, but it was then I realized just maybe why I was put into you. Maybe the old man sage was right and I was just being ignorant and foolish." **Kyuubi said with a sigh, Naruto could tell that it was this part in the story that could explain why Kyuubi seemed so different to the stories he had heard.

**"I thought maybe I was meant to do something, maybe there is a purpose for me being here, just like with Kushina and Mito… maybe I was meant to help them in a way, the old man placed his trust in us to keep the peace in this land, but after a long time I turned bad, I felt rage, but now I feel like I did back then… I feel like I finally understand what old man sage was talking about… we Bijuu are meant to carry on his will to keep the peace, but we have not done that, we help wage war, even now we still do… and it was then that I had felt a great shame, a feeling so foreign to me that I had trouble understanding it at first… regret… I regret not helping Mito, I regret not helping your mother… maybe if I did, she would still be alive and you wouldn't have to have had such a lonely life. But now, I can change that, It seems the old sage has been watching over me and has given me another chance to make things right, to help bring peace to this world, and I believe I can help you achieve it Naruto." **Kyuubi said with a slight wasn't sure what to make of this; he saw this as making friends with the Kyuubi, becoming friends with the nine tailed fox demon… was he really a demon? Well he admitted he was but he is saying he was changing.

Naruto weighed his odds. If the Kyuubi turned out to be lying and ends up trying to get out, he will die and the Kyuubi will be free to do whatever he wants but on the other hand, if Kyuubi was really telling the truth then Naruto might be able to succeed and become Hokage, and finally become recognized and acknowledged, and the idea of world peace with no fighting sounded like a great idea to. After a few minutes of silence, Naruto made up his mind as he looked up at the Kyuubi and smiled.

"Well, I can't really tell if you're lying or not, everything sounds very convincing. If you really just wanted to get out then I bet when I'm at my weakest you'll just take over me and rip yourself out of the seal and I'll die…" Naruto said but before he could continue, Kyuubi interrupted him.

**"Actually, you're only half right. If I was indeed lying to you so to speak, and when you're at your weakest decide to take advantage, if you die, I die as well. That's how this seal works. Your father, the Yondaime Hokage was a Fūinjutsu master. He placed the _Shiki Fuujin_ _(Dead Demon Consuming Seal)_** **on your body when he sealed me into you when you were born. He also placed _Hakke no Fuin Shiki (Eight Trigrams Sealing Style)_ over the seal for extra protection. He was truly a seal master, so if I take over your body by force and kill you, I'll die as well."** Kyuubi explained. Naruto seemed to tilt his head to the side, not understanding the names of the seals placed on him. They must have been powerful seals for it to keep something as powerful as the Kyuubi inside of him.

"Alright… I see, well I guess I really have nothing to lose then. I guess this makes us friends right?" Naruto asked hopefully. Kyuubi would be one of the very small amounts of friends he actually had. In fact he would go as far as saying Kyuubi was family since his mother had him sealed inside of her.

A small tear dropped from his eye as he thought about that word…

Family

A word filled with love and protection, and what Kyuubi was doing right now might just be what families do… at least that's how he saw it anyway. He wasn't angry at his father, he wasn't angry at his mother… it was their job to protect the village, especially his father, the Yondaime Hokage… he still couldn't believe it! That man must be brave, he gave up his life for his village to save it and place the Kyuubi inside his son… that man must have some serious faith in him if he believe he could take on the responsibility of bearing the Kyuubi, however now it didn't seem so bad.

Kyuubi seemed nice, but for all he knew it could be a trick, but what could he have to lose? Right now, he was probably dying at the bottom of a freezing cold river in the middle of some forest. If Kyuubi betrayed him, he would take the teme with him. Now Naruto was about to make the most life changing decisions he has ever had to face in his life. Trust the Kyuubi?

Or call Kyuubi a liar and walk out right now.

Naruto smiled, he knew what he wanted to pick, he wanted someone close to him, someone he could count on when he was down, someone who could in courage him to beat his enemies, and the way Kyuubi had been talking to him tonight, he was glad he had chosen the former.

"Alright Kyuubi… eh, do you have a name instead of just Kyuubi? I mean calling you by the number of your tails just seems a bit odd. Do Bijuu have names?" Naruto asked as he squinted at Kyuubi's fox tails waving around as the lazy fox just lay with his head on top of his paws.

**"Kurama."** Kyuubi, now as he dubbed Kurama replied. Naruto smiled as he gave thumbs up the fox and gave the fox a traditional Uzumaki grin.

"Nice to meet you Kurama-san, I hope I can get to know you better-attebayo!" Naruto said with a grin. Kurama scoffed, he heard it all the time from the outside of the seal. That cursive verbal tick that he inherited from his mother was incredibly annoying. At least it wasn't 'dattebane', but he was sure it was going to get on his nerves.

**"Nice to meet you too Naruto… now for the proposition… As of right now, the way your father left the seal, I am able to send you forty percent of my maximum chakra as a max. We can mix our chakra together and strengthen our bond and allow to semi-transform. You would only need use twenty percent of my Yang chakra to allow you to go Bijuu-mode."** Kurama explained.

"Bijuu mode?" Naruto asked with a comical question mark on top of his head. Kurama sighed and chuckled at Naruto's simple minded brain. He would really need to teach this boy a few things.

**"Basically it's a mixture of our Chakra were both of us are willing to blend our chakra and it will allow you to transform per-say. It increases your strength, speed and sensing abilities to new heights, although, you will have to train how to use it." **Kurama explained. Naruto was in a state of glee. He was going to be trained by Kurama! He would be able to protect himself now and show everyone that he was strong!

**"However I am not trained in the shinobi arts, so I will not be able to help you with jutsu… that is something you will have to learn on your own. I can however help you with extensive chakra control so you will be able to utilize the Bijuu mode to its full potential."** Kurama continued sensing the disappointment in Naruto. Kurama smirked when a number of different chakra control exercises came to mind. Maybe he still retained his sadistic side as he chuckled lowly to himself.

"So you're going to help me in parts of my shinobi training? Do you really think I have what it takes to become Hokage and change the world?" Naruto asked in wonder. Kurama sighed and smiled. If his past self-had seen the way he was talking to this child, Kurama was pretty sure the old him would be disgusted at the weakness he was showing at helping a lowly human… maybe he should thank the Yondaime Hokage for showing him just how weak minded he was when he was still full of rage.

**"I guess you could say that, and yes, I believe that you can become something very great."** Kurama replied. The large fox grumbled as he watched the child jump up and down in glee, a little part of him wanted to squash the boy and tell him he was being childish… but then again Naruto was only seven and he had a lot to learn about the shinobi world.

"Arigato Kurama… I don't know what else to say to express my feelings." Naruto said with a smile. The boy had finally found a friend, a friend he would stick with for the rest of his life, someone who would help him. Kurama grumbled and turned his head away.

**"Bah! Such words, don't thank me it feels weird after what I have done."** Kurama said feeling uncomfortable with the praise. Naruto frowned and pouted.

"Hey I was just trying to say thanks, you know, for being my friend and explaining to me what happened. I've wanted to know all my life why people hated me, and I've also always wanted to know who my parents were…" Naruto trailed off as he saw a fist made by Kurama that was held just outside of the cage. Naruto looked confused and looked to Kurama to explain his actions.

**"This is the first step to our bond. Bump fists and I'll open a chakra network between us, but this seal will restrict more than sixty percent so I'll only be able to give you forty. I am almost made of chakra so forty percent of it is actually quite a lot. With your large chakra reserves as it is, forty percent of my chakra easily is double the amount of your chakra."** Kurama said. Naruto looked like he only just understood what the large fox had just said and slowly nodded.

**"This chakra network I will make will allow me to control your chakra flow, so when you enter Bijuu mode, I can help you in certain areas so you don't end up killing yourself by overloading your chakra network and coils by accident."** Kurama continued. Naruto nodded as he took in this information. He was still so happy to have a friend like Kurama, someone willing to actually help him reach his goals. He didn't care what he had done in the past, he could tell the fox was trying to make up for it now and he'd be dammed it someone tried to fix that.

And on that note, Naruto replied with a simple fist bump with Kurama. Almost after a few seconds, he felt a huge change.

What felt like a river of life and power exploded around Naruto's form, his form changed as he was suddenly lit up in a yellow/orange flame? His blonde hair stood on end, waving around in a non-existent breeze. Strange black lines appeared around his body and mainly focused around his mid-section.

It was a feeling of pure ecstasy; his whole body looked like it was on fire. The orange flames would dance around his shoulders; his hair was standing and waving in a breeze. He felt alive, he felt powerful, and he felt like he could take on the world. He looked back at Kurama with a smile so bright it could dwarf the sun.

It was then he noticed something, he could feel something coming from Kurama… it felt like happiness? Mixed with something from relief to pride, Naruto wasn't sure what to make of this, but before he could ask, Kurama seemed to answer his own question.

**"In that form, you can feel other people's emotions if you focus hard enough. A useful skill when you are trying to figure out true intentions and see if people are lying."** The large fox said with almost a smile. Naruto examined his body; he had never felt so good in his life. He actually looked like he was on fire.

"T-This is amazing… I feel like I could take on Hokage-Jiji and come out on top! I feel like I can do anything!" Naruto said with excitement and pretended to spar with the air around him. Kurama watched with mild amusement as the boy jumped around the outside of the cage like a child on some sort of sugar high.

**"Well, you certainly rival a Kage in terms of the amount of chakra reserves you have, but in terms of actual skills… you're actually the same as before unless you actually know how to control your chakra. Don't think that in Bijuu mode you suddenly gain the skill and power of a Shinobi, you will still need to train to become powerful."** Kurama said as Naruto stopped and looked down in disappointment. Kurama growled at the quick change of attitude.

**"Stop that infernal self-pity! I am here to help you remember? Now I think it was time you wake up and return to the world of the living before you drown, it's been long enough as it is. I will train you in chakra control, but the rest is up to you, I will help you when I can."** Kurama scolded the young blonde. Naruto comically shook his self-pity away and saluted the giant fox.

* * *

In a matter of seconds, Naruto found himself waking up, his lungs screaming at him for air. How long had he spent talking to Kurama? Surely it was more than twenty minutes; he should have drowned by now. Never the less, he twisted his body in the water and frantically swam back to the surface.

As he broke the surface, he pulled oxygen into his lungs. It felt much better to be able to breath, he was sure he was going to die, but thanks to Kurama he had found a new resolve, well actually it was the same but he was given motivation. He was going to become the best Shinobi ever and surpass his father, and he was going to do it with the help of Kurama.

He managed to push himself to the river bank and crawl up onto the mud and collapsed in a heap. He didn't feel that exhilarating feeling he felt in his mind when he bumped fists with Kurama. He didn't see that orange fiery glow to his body anymore. He tried to activate it but found he actually had no idea how to do it.

**_"You need to have decent control of your chakra if you want to enter Bijuu mode, Naruto."_** Kurama's voice echoed throughout his mind. Naruto didn't reply, he just lay on his back looking up into the night sky, past the tree tops and into the black sky with shiny dots.

"_I see, I'll need better chakra control then, I should get to work!"_ Naruto thought with new determination as he tried to force himself up. Kurama sighed inside of his mind.

**_"Baka! To get the control needed for Bijuu mode, it will take at least a few months' worth of extensive chakra control to even be able to activate it. The reason why it worked in your mind was because I activated it for you. Of course since now that the link between us is working now, I could always activate it for you, but I'd rather you learn how to do it yourself… and plus, you're about to have company."_** The fox said as it retreated to the back of his mind.

No sooner after the fox had said this, two figures suddenly appeared next to the downed Naruto. They both had masks on, one of them Naruto managed to faintly recognize as he gave a weak smile to her. He tried to reach up and grab onto her but his energy failed him.

"Neko-nee-chan… I'm tired…" Naruto spoke with a dry croak to his voice. Even though the women was wearing a mask, he could somehow feel a small smile behind her mask as she carefully picked up the blonde boy in her arms and stood up.

"It's alright Naruto-kun, rest now… you are safe." The soothing female voice relaxed Naruto as he gladly took her advice and feel into a slumber. He did not return to his mindscape, but he simply just slept, Kurama had said all he needed to say and decided to let the boy rest, he was going to need it when he decided to kick the boy's ass into gear and get him started on chakra exercises as soon as possible.

"Let's get him back to Hokage-sama; he will want to know that Naruto-kun is still alive." Neko said to Dog/Wolf. The man with silver hair and the one red eye nodded as they both disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

* * *

Naruto woke up as the sun hit his eyes in a painful manner. Had last night been a dream? He dreamt that he met the nine tailed fox who turned out to be really nice, and he even told him his parents!

"_So my parents huh… Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato, or the Yondaime Hokage. That must have been a crazy dream."_ Naruto thought to himself as he looked around. He realized instantly he had been here a number of times when he got in trouble for pulling pranks. Naruto's blood ran cold; he was in the Hokage's office on a futon next to the desk.

**_"That was no dream Naruto, and if I were you, I would get some more sleep because as soon as you have your energy back, the amount of time spent pulling pranks, will be spent training you in the first steps of becoming a shinobi."_** The fox said inside his head. Naruto's breath hitched, so it wasn't a dream and he really now knew who his parents were.

Naruto smiled as he began to chuckle. All in one night he had learned so much, he wondered why the fox would tell him those things, but it didn't matter, he and the fox were partners now and they would take on the world together!

But first… he had some serious things to talk about with his oji-san.

Naruto stood up and yawned and looked around the room. It was empty except for him which was strange because he never knew the Hokage left this office unless someone needed saving. Naruto sat around on his futon and waited for the Hokage to come back, but minutes past and nothing had happened.

Naruto sighed as he stood up and walked over to the Hokage's chair. Naruto smiled weakly for a little bit as he looked at the chair and the desk.

"_My tou-san sat in this very chair and protected the leaf village. One day I will grow up and do the same, I wear on my nindo, and I never go back on my word!"_ Naruto thought with conviction. Then all of a sudden, Naruto grinned as he sat down in the chair and looked towards the door. He changed his face to a serious demeanor and frowned.

"I am the Hokage, and your first mission is to go to Ichiraku's and get me three bowls of Miso Ramen with extra pork!" Naruto said to no one in particular. The little blonde chuckled to himself at how childish he was being.

Suddenly, he felt a soft hand on his shoulder and a low chuckle behind him. Naruto shot out of the seat and turned around all in the space of a second to find the Hokage himself standing behind the chair with a very amused look on his face.

"Hokage-Jiji! W-what are you doing here! I didn't even see you come in!" Naruto exclaimed as he pointed towards the door and back to him. Sarutobi Hiruzen a hearted laugh at the young blonde's accusations.

"Naruto-kun, I am a shinobi am I not? It's my job to not let anyone see me coming. Plus if a seven year old was able to catch me before I got to him, I wouldn't be given the privilege to be sitting in that seat now would I?" Sarutobi chuckled as the blonde seemed to sigh.

"Yeah, yeah rub in it oji-san… when I become a ninja you won't be able to get the drop on me like that ever again!" Naruto exclaimed with a grin. Sarutobi raised his eyebrows at this.

"So you want to become a shinobi now Naruto, are you sure you want to walk down this road? I mean, it's a dangerous life and you never know when you might have to take a life to save many. It's a job that requires sacrifice." The old wise third Hokage said with a serious tone. Naruto nodded and gave him the traditional Uzumaki grin.

"Yep! I want to become a great ninja and surpass all the previous Hokages, even my dad!" Naruto exclaimed further, however he did not mean to say that last part. He was so still so excited at learning his parents, and now the possibility of become a ninja.

Once Naruto had finished that sentence, Sarutobi's warm hearted smile completely changed to a look of confusion as his blood than colder than ice. He couldn't believe it what he had just heard! Naruto new who his father was? Who could have told him, there was only a select few that actually knew who his father was and it was a very well kept S-class secret to ensure the safety of Naruto's well-being.

When Naruto saw his oji-san's expression change, he knew he had said too much, but this was no time to back down, his oji-san had lied to him and told him he didn't know who his parents were and that all he knew was that they died a hero's death in the Kyuubi attack seven years ago. Naruto pieced together in a matter of seconds that there was no way on Kami's green earth that the third Hokage wouldn't know who the Yondaime was, it was absolute rubbish.

"Naruto… do you know who your father was?" Sarutobi asked, he actually didn't know any other way to ask the question, he knew if the boy actually knew then he could lie and he couldn't punish the boy for knowing, but if he actually knew then it would cause a lot of trouble. Much to his fears, Naruto's happy go lucky attitude changed into a stone cold faced demeanor.

**_"Naruto, tell him to seal the room, I can sense at least five people hiding in the ceiling."_**Kurama advised the young Namikaze heir. Naruto mentally nodded and looked towards his oji-san, it was time for answers and he wouldn't leave here until he got them.

"Oji-san, seal the room so people can't over hear this convocation." Naruto said in a serious tone of voice. Sarutobi's eyes narrowed on the boy. The air was tense, and Hiruzen wasn't sure what to make of Naruto anymore. How much does the boy know about his heritage?

Accepting the request, Sarutobi went through a few quick hand signs and touch the ground with both his hands. Seals spread though out the room all across the floor, the roof and the doors and windows.

**_"Privacy seals I think. Okay, it's safe to talk now."_**

"Alright Oji-san, I'm not going to lie to you, but yes, as of last night, I know who my Kaa-chan and Tou-san were and I'm upset that you lied to me about them. Now I'm sure you had your reasons, I mean, from what I read my father, the Yondaime Hokage did some amazing things, but amazing here could also mean bad somewhere else… what I think was my father made some pretty powerful enemies and to keep me safe, you lied to me about my heritage." Naruto said with an icy gaze on the elderly Hokage.

To say that Sarutobi Hiruzen was stunned beyond belief would be an understatement, he had hit the nail right on the head with that one, those reasons had been justified and where for a good cause but that doesn't mean Naruto will easily forgive him for this. He could have easily told Naruto and told him to keep quiet about it, but knowing Naruto, him inheriting Kushina's loud mouth and brash attitude, he wasn't sure if he could trust Naruto with that kind of information, but now it seems someone has opened there big mouth.

"Who told you this Naruto? That was an S-Class secret to be kept at all times, punishable by death… who told you this information Naruto?" Hiruzen said, edging to get a name so he could make that person's life hell before he was executed for his crimes. He was putting Naruto's life in danger!

"Well… hah, hah, I don't think you will be able to do that because this particular _person_ so to say is someone you cannot _kill_." Naruto said trying to hint at who told him this information, trying not to say it out right. Hiruzen studied the boy's expression trying to decode to boy's message. However his thoughts came to an impossible conclusion and was only confirmed when Naruto pointed to his stomach.

"Y-You don't mean that-"

"Kyuubi told me the truth, he told me everything I ever wanted to know… why I was hated, who my parents were and why they were not with me and he also told me some other interesting things that you might want to hear as well." Hiruzen was stumped, another S-Class secret that the boy was not supposed to know had come to light, and even worse was it was by someone he could not punish for its actions, as its very exsistence inside Naruto was already its punishment.

"So you know everything now. I'm sorry Naruto I truly am, but I promised your parents to take care of you and to help you grow, letting you have a child hood instead of being forced to grow up so fast. Gomen Naruto-kun, I truly am." Naruto nodded, accepting the apology.

"Good, apology accepted, I hold no ill towards you Oji-san, however I would like you to know the truth about what actually happened that night, Kyuubi's side of the story, so I'm going to have to ask you to remain calm because I'm going to switch with Kyuubi and let him explain to you what really happened that night of the attack." Naruto said.

Hiruzen's eyes widened to the point where they were going to pop out of his head. Before he could protest, Naruto closed his eyes. He knew it was too late as he felt Naruto's chakra change to that of the Kyuubi. Thanks to the privacy seals he put up, they also were fixed with chakra suppressers so no one could sense the Kyuubi in here. Good thing too, this room would be filled with ANBU at the even slightest bit of the Nine Tails Chakra.

When Naruto opened his eyes again, Sarutobi no longer saw the childish blue eyes Naruto once had, they were now blood red with a slit down the middle, giving off a feral feeling. Sandaime instinctively held a kunai under is desk in his best hand, in case the monster attacked, though he would have to be careful, he wouldn't want to harm Naruto's body.

**"Greetings Sandaime Hokage, it's been awhile hasn't it?"** The Kyuubi said in Naruto's possessed body, the voice had completely changed, it was that of the Kyuubi not Naruto. Hiruzen scowled as he gazed into those blood red eyes, bringing him fresh destructive memories of that very night seven years ago.

"Kyuubi…" Hiruzen frowned as he looked back at the young blonde possessed body. Such cold red blood thirsty eyes, calculating his every move, predicting his every thought, I was agonizing just sitting there in the Hokage chair, but he promised Naruto he would hear what the Kyuubi had to say. This morning seemed to be getting stranger and stranger by the second!

**"Naruto has allowed me to talk to you and explain to you what really happened on that night, details that were missed that you should know."** Kyuubi started as Hiruzen sat in his chair, listening intently and tense, ready for any attack if the Kyuubi tried something. He never would have thought in a million years that this morning he would be having a chat with the Kyuubi himself.

"Very well, let's hear your side of the story, but by no means does it mean that I will believe even a word you say." Sarutobi said, choosing his words carefully. Kyuubi simply nodded and began his explanation.

Throughout the explanation, Sarutobi was shocked to say the least to find out that the Kyuubi was controlled, forcefully ripped from Kushina's seal and forced to attack the Leaf village. As the Kyuubi kept explaining, it made more and more sense to Sarutobi. Kushina's seal wouldn't fail so easily, not with Minato, a seal master, more talented and better if not equal to his own student Jiraiya of the Sannin, a well-known seal master all over the elemental nations. The only possible conclusion was that they were attacked on the night of the birth by someone who had a grudge against Konoha, but who?

**"The only person who has every managed to control me like that… is none other than Uchiha Madara, no one else can do it."** Kyuubi said with a grim voice. Sarutobi couldn't believe what he was hearing. The legendary Uchiha Madara was trying to destroy the Leaf again? But that man was supposed to be dead by now, at least by old age… could he have found a way to make himself immortal?

**"I don't care if you believe me or not, but as soon as I was free from Kushina's seal, before I even knew it, I was looking into a Sharingan eye and lost control of my actions. Next thing I know, I'm in the Leaf village with destroyed buildings all around me and shinobi attacking me from all angles."** Kyuubi said. He also went on to explain why he and Naruto were on such good terms as of right now. He told the Sandaime that after his sealing into Naruto by the Yondaime, he began to contemplate his existence and eventually he let his hate and rage subside and made a decision to help Naruto become the best he can be. Hiruzen was not so easily swayed and didn't believe him for a second but the fox didn't care.

**"Listen, I've opened up a link with Naruto so that he will be able to use forty percent of my power whenever he needs to, I will also be teaching him how to control it to make sure he doesn't destroy his body by overloading his chakra coils with my added chakra. I don't need to promise any of you anything because I know you don't trust me, but Naruto trusts me and that's all I care about."** And with that, Kyuubi retreated back into the mind of Naruto, returning the young blonde boy to control.

Naruto opened his eyes once more, his sea blue eyes back to normal. Sarutobi let out a breath and relaxed back in his seat, he could not say he was happy but at least Naruto was okay.

"I take it he told you everything you needed to know?" Naruto asked. Hiruzen sighed as he looked back at Naruto, glad the eyes of the young boy he knew and loved were back to normal.

"Do you trust Kyuubi, Naruto?" Hiruzen asked, studying the boy's facial reaction. Naruto smiled and looked down at the floor.

"He was the first to tell me the truth, the first to offer his friendship to me, something no one else has done. I'll trust him with my life, and if he's lying, well I really have nothing to lose. My dad put faith in me to seal the Kyuubi inside of me, I will honor that and use all my power to protect the people that are precious to me, and that includes you too Hokage-Jiji!" Naruto grinned. Sarutobi couldn't help but grin to. That boy had a heart of gold, and he knew that he was in for an interesting few years.

"Anyway Oji-san, I've gotta go, Kurama-san wants to start me on chakra control exercises as soon as possible, so I gotta start today-attebayo!" Naruto said waving as he made his way to the door. Before he could open it, Hiruzen called out to the boy.

"Naruto… Shinobi Academy starts five months from now… make sure your there." The Sandaime Hokage said smiling from his seat. Naruto turned to him with the biggest smile on his face Hiruzen had ever seen the boy produce.

"Arigato Oji-san!" Naruto said running over to the old supposed to be retired Hokage and giving him a hug before running out the door to the nearest training field. Hiruzen chuckled as he watched Naruto go.

"_Just like Minato and Kushina… always eager to improve, I hope you two are watching, because you are in for a real show."_ He thought to himself.

These were going to be some very interesting years indeed.

* * *

That's it for the first chapter, there will be small time skips, and the story will be long, I like to write in detail. I hope you guys, or whoever is reading liked the start, it will only get better from onward hopefully.

See you guys when I next update.


	2. Charka Training and New Discoveries!

A/N:

WOW! I really did not expect this to happen! Almost 100 favorites and followers in only a day of posting. Absolutely amazing, thank you guys so much for that, and your kind reviews!

**I also did forget to say in the first A/N that flames will be ignored, basically if you have nothing nice to say or critique about my story then don't say anything at all, your wasting you time, so go find another story to read and don't bother wasting your time reviewing because I will write you off. **

There are somethings I would like to clear up though and that's why I'm posting this chapter early. On the account of my spelling and grammar, I am using Microsoft word 2010, and I've had this problem in the past before where spelling mistakes have been found but have actually never shown up.

As far as Harems go, yeah, I understand that they wouldn't work in a real sense, but this is anime in a world were our morals are kind of different than theirs. Plus, I wasn't going to have the girls just accept each other so quickly and be like "Oh? You love Naruto too? Lets fuck him together, it'll be fun!" No, that isn't going to happen, the girls that are going to be in the harem will fight over him like savage cats until eventually they learn to accept each other's feelings and Naruto's. **AND** I wasn't planing on having a huge harem consisting of like 15 girls, no I was thinking around the lines of maybe 4 - 6, six being maximum. Since I have had one or two people saying that they want certain people in the harem, I will let you guys suggest what girls will be in the harem, six being the max. This doesn't mean I'll actually put them in, but I will consider your opinions because I am not a dick as to ask you and then ignore you.

As for Naruto and Kurama's link with %40 being the maximum Kurama can send him, it would be four times the amount of Naruto's maximum reserves, not double. If I said double, it probably means Kurama only gave him %20. Hope that clears things up, if not... well, I don't know what to say.

There is also a small error in the last chapter, Naruto was turning Eight on his birthday, so instead of Seven, he's actually eight as of the first chapter.

Also thanks **Thecactusman **for pointing out that little error in the summary. It's been fixed. :)

Anyway, enough ranting, Onward with the story!

* * *

Chapter Two

In no time five months had pasted and an eight year old Naruto was half way to getting water walking exercises down. He had turned eight on the very night he was attacked. When he first started out in chakra training he thought it was going to be fun and challenging, however having Kurama as a sensei was by no means _fun_. Kurama had, despite being nice, still retained his sadistic streak with his methods of training using absolute torture. Naruto was trained to the bone in chakra exercises to make sure he had the utmost control over his chakra flow and his power. First began with the Leaf exercises, he went from holding the leaf on his forehead to moving it around his body with nothing but chakra.

Then he had to increase the number of leafs to make sure he could supply enough chakra and divide enough between each leaf to keep it on his body. Until he had more than thirty on his body, Kurama was not satisfied. The last stage of the leaf balancing training was he had to hold thirty leafs all over his body, still in the same place for three days straight, and for every time a leaf fell off, the time would increase by four hours, and Kurama was a good counter for all the credit Naruto could give.

Tree climbing was worse to say the least. When Naruto started, it took him a few days to get to the top but being the sadistic fox he was, Kurama told – no, ordered Naruto to run up and down the tree until he dropped from chakra exhaustion. Now since Naruto has so much, he was able to go for long periods of time, but his chakra would deplete so fast because of the sadistic kitsune's training.

The final part of the tree climbing exercise was to strand still on the surface of the tree for an entire day! For Naruto it wasn't a matter of doing the exercise with chakra it was passing the time. He was so bored! The day included night time as well, he had to stand on the surface of the tree for twenty four hours and if he fell off, he had to restart. It infuriated Naruto to no ends when he would stand there for hours just to slip when his chakra would waver and he would have to start all over again.

Finally once he had managed to stand still for twenty four hours without slipping, which almost drove him to the point of insanity, Kurama decided it was time to start water walking. A chakra exercise that much more complex than the other two exercises. He had to cut the mental connection when Naruto first tried it because when he got to putting one foot on the water, thinking he had the right amount of control, he went face first right in the water. Kurama had to cut it because he couldn't help himself but burst into tears of hysterical laughter as he watched Naruto time and time again but fail miserably.

In the after about a week or two of failing horribly, he managed to get it right and he was able to walk on water for no longer than ten minutes, but he was well on his way to completing water walking, it was around this time that Kurama had told him that he should be able to activate Bijuu mode at will.

So here they were, in a regular training spot that Naruto had been using for the past five months and was about to undergo his first Bijuu transformation. Kurama had told him if he did it right, he would look the same as he did in his mindscape when they had bumped fists. So for safety precaution, he told him to take it slow to be safe.

Naruto clapped his hands together and focused as he felt Kurama sending him thirty percent of his chakra through their link that loop holed the seal that trapped Kurama inside Naruto. He took hold of the chakra and redirected it into his chakra coils, mixing with his own chakra. He could feel the change happening instantly. For ten seconds, Naruto focused and mixed the required chakra until he felt that bliss feeling of being alive.

His body was instantly covered in that familiar yellowy fire. His hair stood up on end and the seal on his stomach became visible with other black lines flowing all around it. Around the base of his neck, six magatama were shown. It was now obvious that Naruto had fully and successfully entered Bijuu mode.

Naruto took a moment to admire himself as he brought up his hands and looked at them as he once again thrived in the feeling of being alive. He loved this form, even though he had only been in it once before, but this time was so different! His range of senses extended past the normal boundaries that a normal human should have been capable of. He could sense the entire village and all the shinobi, and with a sweat drop, he realised that they had all started to panic.

He took a deep breath and looked around, until he sensed something coming from the trees behind him. Naruto was in a training ground, with a tree line behind him. In those trees, he felt emotion coming from them. It felt like wonder, and curiosity. He turned to look at the spot where the emotion was coming from.

"Oi you can come out now! I know your there!" Naruto called out to the tree line. Out jumped one of the most unlikely people he didn't think to see around this area. He looked at the man with a comical questions mark on his head.

"Hokage-Jiji?" Naruto looked at the old man as he looked back in wonder at transformation Naruto had gone through. The old man hummed to himself as he examined this new form.

"Why hello Naruto-kun… I take it this is the outcome of your relationship of the Kyuubi? This chakra I am sensing is you, but at the same time it's also the Kyuubi. However I would advise you deactivate it right now because several groups of ANBU are on emergence alert along with most chuunin and Jounin. The output of your chakra can be sensed all the way across the village." Sarutobi said in haste. Naruto panicked and quickly deactivated Bijuu mode just in time for more than a dozen of ANBU to appear around Naruto with their swords drawn.

"Stand down ANBU! There is no problem here… just me teaching Naruto-kun how to control the power of the Kyuubi. Relay this message to all Jounin and chuunin to ignore the chakra as he is under my guidance, dismissed!" Sandaime ordered. In an instant, all the ANBU sheathed their weapons and kneeled down. Sarutobi just blew out a sigh, proud that he managed to come up with an excuse to calm everyone down.

"Hai Hokage-sama!" They all coursed before vanishing into thin air. Sandaime turned to Naruto looking for an explanation on this new appearance he had taken.

"Well Naruto-kun? What was that transformation you just did? Don't worry, you can do it again since I've told everyone not to worry, and they will be dammed if they go against what I say." He said. Naruto smiled and clapped his hands together and in a shorter time span than before, he was engulfed in that same yellow fiery glow with the six magatama around the base of his neck. His eyes even seemed to take on an orange glow.

Hiruzen examined Naruto carefully. He clearly saw the seal that trapped Kyuubi inside Naruto, which had become more apparent than before as it was outlined in black lines all over his body. The Uzumaki clan symbol was on his stomach while the six magatama around his neck were also just as visible. Naruto looked like he was glowing brighter than the sun, but the old Hokage knew that there was much more to this form than meets the eye.

Naruto's chakra had become much denser and thick, his chakra reserves easily doubled if not tripled… no, not even that, his chakra reserves had skyrocketed past his own and he could tell from before that this transformation came with amazing senor ability. He had been able to sense him while he had his chakra suppressed and masked to the point where he should have been invisible to even the best chakra sensors, but this boy, eight years old had managed to pin point him instantly and call him out. It was obvious, in this transformation; no one would be able to hide from Naruto.

"This is Bijuu mode, basically according to what Kurama-sensei said, it's a mixture and combination between both of our chakra allowing me to transform into this! But, this is only thirty percent of Kurama-sensei's chakra, and with the seal that my tou-san place on me, it only allows forty percent of his chakra to come through as a max output. I wasn't able to use this before because I didn't have a good enough control over my chakra to utilize this form. I also using something called Yang chakra as this modes main source." Naruto explained, however the old Hokage could tell that Naruto had no idea what Yang chakra was and it was most likely and explanation from Kurama or Kyuubi.

_"This is very interesting, it looks like this bond between Naruto and Kyuubi was no plot from the fox. I can sense Kyuubi's chakra, but it's not that foul disgusting chakra filled with rage from eight years ago, this is more potent, pure… dare I say natural."_ Hiruzen thought as he examined Naruto as the young boy that was lit up like the sun looked back and grinned, giving the thumbs up.

"_Let's see what this form can do."_ He thought with interest as a smile started to appear on the old man's face. Naruto narrowed his eyes, seeing if his new form could read minds. Kurama knocked his head against the side of his cage; he kept forgetting he was stuck inside an eight year old.

"Alright Naruto, this is a very interesting form you have acquired, but I would like to see what it can do myself… tell you what, if you can catch me, and lay at least one finger on me, I will take you and buy you all the things you will need for the academy that starts in two days, I'll even by you a few bowls of Miso Ramen from Ichiraku's if you managed to lay a hand on me."

Naruto's face lit up at the mention of Ramen until his faced dawned a devilish smirk as he grinned at the old Hokage. He bent down, ready to take off as he watched his Oji-san's eyes carefully.

"You're on!" Naruto said launching himself at the old man, outstretched ready to catch him. Sarutobi's eyes widened at the inhuman speed as he quickly moved out of the way to see a _yellow flash_ shoot past him and land on the ground around twenty meters behind him.

Sarutobi looked back at Naruto who had landed rather off balance, tripping over himself as he regained balance.

"_That was easily Jounin-level speed! I've got to be careful; if that form gives him that much speeds… I don't want to think about what kind of strength power he's got in here. Also by the way he landed; I don't think he's very controlled in this form yet. I've got to be careful."_ Hiruzen thought.

Meanwhile Naruto was trying to regain his balance. He didn't expect himself to shoot off so fast like a rocket on steroids! Even he was underestimating this forms bonus attributes, and since he had never even used this form in actual battle, and this was his first time actually using it outside of his mind. So instead he would like to think of this more as a test run and a challenge to test what this form was actually capable of.

In an instant, he knew how to fix the problem. By channeling chakra to his feet, when he would launch himself and land, he would apply enough chakra to his feet to slow himself down to gain the best possible agility to launch himself again.

Naruto turned again and launched himself at the Sandaime Hokage with a finger outstretched. The Hokage once again swiftly moved out of the way only to find that Naruto had landed and project himself right towards where the old veteran shinobi had just landed. Out of shear instinct, the old Hokage made a swift hand seals.

_"Doton: Doryūheki no Jutsu (Earth Release: Mud Wall)!" _The old Hokage called out.

As Naruto was shooting forward at speeds that only Jounin would be able to counter, a large wall of mud shot up in front of the soon to be academy student, protecting the caster from any harm the young-ling might cause.

Naruto's eyes widened as he panicked before slamming into the wall of now hardened mud with an audible splat. Naruto groaned as he peeled his head off the wall, comical stars floating around his head, and slowly the rest of his body followed. What looked like a flattened pancake-Naruto fell to the ground before getting up and pointing at the old Hokage with an accusing finger as the mud wall fell back into the ground and combined with the earth.

"Hey that's not fair! You used a jutsu on me to defend yourself!" Naruto shouted indignantly with a tick mark on his head. Sarutobi chuckled as he gazed at the blonde with an amused look on his face.

"Now, now Naruto-kun, I didn't say I wasn't going to use any Jutsu now did I? We are Shinobi and shinobi aren't supposed to fight fair." Sarutobi lectured the young blonde. The Yondaime's legacy seemed to gain an even further annoyance as the tick mark on his forehead became larger.

"That's it Jiji! I'm coming for you now, no more holding back-attebayo!" Naruto said as he launched himself at his old Hokage. The old man smirked as he quickly leaped over Naruto, but what happened next surprised him to no end. As the old Hokage was in the air, what seemed like a large yellow claw shot out from Naruto's back and sped towards a shocked looked Hiruzen. His eyes widened even more when the claw wrapped himself around the old man and dragged him down towards the ground.

Naruto turned and looked to see a claw coming out of his back, and as his eyes followed it saw that the his Hokage-Jiji was caught in its claws. Naruto grinned as he danced in victory and that gave the victory sign.

"Yeah, yeah! I got you old man! Looks like you're getting rus-" Naruto didn't get to finish his sentence when Sarutobi audibly popped and disappeared in a puff of smoke, revealing a log from a tree. Naruto stared wide eyed at the spot where Sarutobi was.

"What! Oh come on! Stupid Kawarimi! That's so not fair!" Naruto stamped his foot in frustration causing the ground to crack. Kurama was silently snickering at the boy's short fuse. The large fox knew that Naruto had little to no chance at winning this even with his increased power, senses and speed. He was going up against a Hokage, the Sandaime who was known as '_Shinobi no Kami_' or 'God of Shinobi' and to gain a title like that all over the elemental continents was a real achievement. It wasn't surprising that Naruto wasn't able to match him; this was a man who lived through two wars, and for him to even get touched by someone like Naruto was almost an insult, even with Kurama's increased attributes.

"I'm going to get you Jiji, I swear it, and I won't leave here today until I get one finger on you-attebayo!" Naruto seethed with conviction. Naruto stood still in the open training area, sensing all the emotions around him, he could feel some ANBU watching him and Hokage-Jiji have their little game, and he could feel their emotions of excitement and wonder, little bit of hatred but more or less wonder at how a boy of his age could have such speed.

Naruto kept searching, pushing his new sensing ability to its absolute limits. Naruto closes his eyes as he pushed his senses further and further… there!

Naruto spun and shot towards a certain tree in the tree line and instead of trying to run around to find Sarutobi, he reared back his fist and threw it towards the tree, his fist infused with both his and Kurama's yang chakra. As soon as his fist connected, the tree shudder as the bark around where his fist landed shattered and vaporized. In less than a second, that same tree was uprooted and flown through the forest.

Sandaime, who had been hiding in one of the branches of the same tree, was force to leap into the air as he watched the devastation with widened eyes. This was another time that Naruto had truly astonished him today. If he didn't know any better, that was very close to the kind of strength his past student Tsunade of the Sannin has. He definitely didn't want to be on the receiving end of one of those powerful hits.

As the Sandaime was watching the destruction and aftermath of the tree below, he only just noticed a yellow blur shoot up from the ground at another attempt to lay a hand on him. He had to give the boy credit, he was determined and was willing to push himself to his limits to achieve his goal, especially when he knows that goal is near impossible to achieve.

While still in the air, Naruto jabbed at the speed of lightening hoping to get at least one hit on the old man, however, lightening didn't seem fast enough as the old Hokage managed to dodge every single one with a smile of pride on his face. Not even a chuunin could do what Naruto was doing right now, and that was saying something for Naruto.

When the two finally landed, Naruto and Sarutobi both jumped backwards to give each other space. Naruto stared intently at the man only slightly breathing heavily, trying to find an opening in the man so he could get his hand on him. Even in Bijuu mode it was almost impossible to believe that this man was still only simply playing with him. The eight year old Naruto refused to give up and waited for the old man to drop his guard.

The old Hokage waited, steering intently at Naruto with judging eyes as he waited for Naruto to make the first move. He kept reminding himself that this wasn't a real match and Naruto didn't know any offensive jutsu or any sort of jutsu to be accurate, but he still managed to make the old man move.

Once again Naruto lunged towards the old man, intent to fill his goal. He used every possible thing he could think of, he used speed, darting around the old Hokage trying to confuse him, going in for the touch before faking and moving away again, and continuing to dart around the aged shinobi.

After countless tries and failure, Naruto had managed to learn something new about his Bijuu mode. When his will to do something was strong enough, say, to grab something without the use of his hands, claws would spring from his back and shoot towards any target that the young blonde would think of. It was like having extra arms that were made of rubber, he could stretch them as far as he wanted and as soon as Naruto figured out how to do this, the old Hokage was starting to have a lot more trouble dodging Naruto's attempts to catch him. At some points, he was actually forced to use _Shunshin no Jutsu. _

Finally after one hour of doing this, Naruto's Bijuu mode suddenly vanished and Naruto collapsed to his knees, breathing deeply. Kurama, inside Naruto's mind was quite impressed that he was able to hold the form for an hour at only eight years of age. Such power and strong will of steel for a boy his age was un-heard of.

Hiruzen gazed upon the boy smiling with pride as Naruto rolled onto his back and exhaled as he pounded his fists on the ground beside him.

"Dammit! Why couldn't I catch you! I swear I had you so many times before that but you keep disappearing with that stupid pop of smoke! Dam your jutsu oji-san, I bet if I had jutsu I would have caught you." Naruto sulked. The old Hokage chuckled to himself softly as he walked up to the little blonde shinobi in training and helped him to his feet.

"Now, now Naruto-kun, just who do you think I am? I am the Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato, the supposed strongest shinobi of the village! If I am to hold such a title, do you really think that one such as yourself would be able to lay a finger on me? Not even chuunins would have been able to do what you just did now, and I would consider that a huge achievement." Sarutobi said with pride. Naruto's eyes lit up at the praise his oji-san was giving him. Hiruzen smiled as he turned to walk away.

"Come on now, let's go get you your academy gear and I'll buy you some Ichiraku ramen on the way home." Sarutobi said as Naruto let out a cheer and ran to the old villager leader's side. After a minute or two, a comical question mark appeared on top of Naruto's head.

"Why are you doing this for me? I thought you said you would do this if I had laid a finger on you and I didn't do that…" Naruto questioned with a sour look on his face, he wasn't familiar with the idea of people doing things for him just so easily like this. Hiruzen smiled as he gazed towards the sky, as if looking at someone, a certain blonde Hokage that was somewhere in the next life looking down on Naruto with pride.

"Well, I only said that because I was giving you something to work for, and I can certainly say that it paid off because you at times had me on my toes. I do admit it was a good way to stretch the old bones mind you." Hiruzen said with a sly smile. Naruto pouted and stared away from the old man as he laughed at Naruto's behavior; at least the boy still had child aspects to him.

* * *

Naruto and the old Sandaime walked through the village, visiting a number of different shops and stores to get the things Naruto needed for the academy. Most of the villagers sneered at Naruto, but their expressions quickly changed as they felt a wave of killer intent wash over them like a giant tsunami. Naruto didn't seem to notice it at all and kept on walking, staying close to the old Sarutobi.

In his life he had come to ignore the hateful stares and the throw away comments, to him it had just become daily routine and everyday life for the young Uzumaki. He never blamed them though, not one bit, they were confused, scared and they believed that the very thing that had destroyed their home was living among them. They didn't know what sealing was and how it worked, but the shinobi on the other hand… Naruto hated the shinobi that tried to attack him.

They were ninja; they had studied in the arts of shinobi and everything to the dot. They should at least know what it means to be a Jinchuriki. They should know the difference between the Kyuubi and Uzumaki Naruto. However, obvious to him, they either knew and didn't care, or they just liked to torture the scapegoat of the village.

Naruto sighed as his thoughts drifted to his parents. He wondered what they looked like, how they acted, all he had was names and common based history, at least on his father. His mother wasn't listed in the history books for being the Yondaime's husband or lover. In fact, in the academy, it was told that the fourth was single and didn't have a love life and favored the village over everything else, and that's why he was loved so much, Naruto had to question that.

"Hey, Jiji, what was my Tou-san like… you know, as a person and not as the history books say?" Naruto asked the old Hokage walking beside him. As the sun was setting in the background giving and orange glow and a late lazy tone to the afternoon, the old Sarutobi hummed to himself as he closed his eyes.

"Minato-kun was a shinobi like no other. He was kind to his loved ones, he was gentle and caring and loved Kushina-chan very much. However, he was ruthless and unmerciful to his enemies and killed without a second thought. He was a very level headed, calm shinobi. He had a fun outgoing personality, always liked to be around his friends, especially Kushina and his sensei Jiraiya-kun.' He said. Naruto smiled as he listened to his Jiji talk about his father. A picture stared to form in his head as he listened.

"What about my Kaa-chan? What was she like?" The young blonde asked. This time the Hiruzen gave an old laugh as various pictures of Kushina in different situations came to mind. She was also known as a prank master and her vicious side was unrivaled. Naruto raised an eyebrow at the laugh.

"What's so funny?" Naruto said with a frown. The old man stroked his beard as he thought about what to say about the young, energetic fiery, red head.

"Well Naruto-kun, you mother… was the polar opposite of your father, she was loud, brash, annoying at times that she would give me a head ache. Just like you sometimes." Hiruzen said with a mocking smile. Naruto scowled.

"Hey that's mean you old prune! I am not annoying!" Naruto cried indignantly. The old Hokage chuckled as he continued his description on his mother. Naruto couldn't deny that he was loud and a bit rude sometimes but that's just how he grew up.

"Kushina was a very decent shinobi, very strong and hard willed. She was very outgoing, and nice if you were nice to her back. If you teased her and called her names, let's just say that she taught them a lesson." Hiruzen thought as he was taken back to the times where the young red headed Uzumaki was sent to his office at least three or four times a week for her wreak less behavior in the academy.

"_I am glad I never called her a tomato."_ The old man thought as he remembered a number of pranks the girl pulled in her time. He blushed when he remembered one time she was pulled into his office and she was covered in super glue from super gluing all the Uchiha and the Hyūga's underwear to ANBU masks, so the entire ANBU division was running around with various undergarments stuck to their faces.

"_Dam girl… took a week's worth of paper work and various execution requests from both clans to get through. She was a cheeky one that Kushina."_ He thought. Naruto grinned at the explanation as he now had a clear picture in his head of what his mother was like.

"Yeah, go Kaa-chan!" Naruto yelled in admiration drawing a bit of attention to himself. He got a number of glares at were quickly extinguished as more waves of killer intent flooded the people in the market. The old man laughed as he ruffled Naruto's blonde hair.

"Your mother was quite the firecracker Naruto, you take after her a lot more than you realize." He said. Naruto grinned happily knowing that he possessed traits to that of his mother. He turned to the old Hokage; he still didn't know what they looked like.

"Hey Jiji, do you have a picture of them?" He asked. The old man nodded as he coughed a little. He turned his gaze to Naruto, the glint of happiness in the old man's eyes which Naruto could see easily, it was easy to tell that he had asked a good question. He nodded.

"Of course I do Naruto-kun, I have photos of them in their academy days, when they were in their teams, when they were promoted to Chuunin and Jounin, ANBU and when they got married." Sarutobi said with a hint of pride in his voice. He had managed to scrape together every long living memory of the happy couple.

"Can I see them Jiji? Pretty please!?" Naruto said as he used Puppy dog eyes no jutsu on the old Hokage. Even the old man couldn't resist those eyes, just so innocent and pleading, he could not deny the boy a thing. The old man smiled.

"Of course you can Naruto-kun, come with me back to the office and you can see all the photos I have of the two." He said. Naruto yipped in glee as he followed Hiruzen back to the Hokage's office to see all of the photos of his parents; hopefully they were cool and awesome like how he had always pictured them to be.

Arriving back at the Hokage tower, the two walked inside and slowly made their way towards the office. Naruto was shaking in excitement, he couldn't take the grin off his face, he was giddy about the idea of seeing what his parents looked like. He imaged his Tou-san was big and strong who fought off bad guys left and right. For some reason at the academy, pictures of the Shodai, Nidaime and Sandaime Hokages but they never showed the Yondaime for _security reasons_.

Naruto scoffed at that, he didn't know before but he certainly knew now why they didn't show the class a picture of the Yondaime. His traits and appearance would have been traced back to Naruto. From what Sandaime had told him, he and his father shared the same uncanny golden blonde hair with locks and deep blue eyes.

With Naruto being in the class, someone with a brain like Nara Shikamaru would have seen the resemblance with the two and would have done some research, and eventually figured it out. There was evidence that Naruto was the son of both Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina, he had the blood-tests, the birth certificate, hell the kind even had the face of Kushina and the physical features of Minato, how could anyone deny him if these three things were to be revealed.

As they arrived in the Hokage's office, the Sandaime went over to a locked safe that was hidden under his desk with a camouflaging seal. The old man undid the seals and promptly opened the safe and took out a few picture frames and handed them to Naruto.

The first picture was the graduating year group they were in. Everyone was smiling, and laughing, all except one red head who was scowling and looking directly at the camera, her eyes filled with mischief and what spelled out 'diabolical planning' to Naruto as he looked at her. He wondered if that was her, that was when his tenant decided to tune in.

"**_Yep, that's her alright. I'll never forget that look on her face, she was always up to no good. At times I actually quite enjoyed the horrible things she got up to in pranking. Although at the time she didn't kill anyone as much as I would have wanted her to, but her evil pranks were a good laugh._**" Kurama pitched in. Naruto chuckled at the fox's memory of her.

As Naruto examined the picture further, her face and the way it was framed by her beautiful flowing red hair made him think of something. He couldn't quite put its finger on what it was called, but he had a strange feeling he had eaten it before, a fruit or vegetable maybe? Eh, he didn't care, she looked cute and adorable with that little scowl.

Next to her was a blonde boy with golden locks that framed his face. He was smiling, but you could tell that it was forced as you could even see the bead of sweat rolling down his head in the shot. Naruto knew on site that it was Minato, although he was rather disappointed. It was no doubt these kids were eleven or twelve and Naruto was pretty sure he looked like he was stronger than his tou-san in this picture.

"_Man, I was expecting a tough looking guy with cool as looks and a serious shinobi like face. He looks kind of… dopy."_ Naruto said in slight disappointment.

* * *

Somewhere in the Shinigami's stomach, Namikaze Minato suddenly felt very embarrassed and self-conscious of his past self's looks. He shuddered and returned to his eternal payment as he resided in the stomach of the death god.

* * *

Naruto smiled as he moved onto the next picture. His mother and father were in two different teams, Minato was in Team Jiraiya, and Kushina was in Team Tsunade. His father had grown a bit and looked quite a bit more serious with his Leaf Hitai-ate on his forehead. He wore some black shinobi pants and a white jacket with a fishnet undershirt.

Kushina was wearing what seemed like light body armour as she wore the Leaf Hitai-ate on her forehead, while on her right shoulder, was another Hitai-ate that was wrapped around her arm. It had the Uzumaki clan symbol on it. This made Naruto frown as he looked up at his grandfather figure that had cared for him most of his life.

"Oi, Jiji… what's with Kaa-chan's Hitai-ate, she's wearing two?" Naruto looked at the old man. He seemed to nod in confirmation as he remembered Kushina's origins.

"Naruto, you mother was from the Whirlpool country, and believe it or not, that country had its own hidden village. It was called _Uzushiogakure (Village Hidden by the Whirling Tides)_ from what I believe. We had an Alliance with them a while ago, but that was before Uzushiogakure was invaded and destroyed." He explained. Naruto's eyes widened at this revelation.

"What? You mean that my mother's village was destroyed? Who destroyed her village?" The young blonde questioned with eager wide eyes. Hiruzen closed his eyes as he lit his pipe and blew some smoke out of it, it was a very stressful subject, bringing back a lot of old painful memories when the news had been brought to him first handed.

"It was during the Third Shinobi world war. The Hidden Villages Iwagakure and Kumogakure specifically targeted Uzushiogakure because of their renowned and unrivaled knowledge in fūinjutsu. It made them a prime target and since Konohagakure was, at the time, the village with the most power, the other villages tried as best they could to cut off all the extra military power we could have. We still honor their friendship today, if you haven't noticed the village's symbol on all of our shinobi uniforms." Sarutobi explained.

Naruto finally understood what the other Hitai-ate his mother was wearing actually was, she must have been a Uzushiogakure shinobi before coming to Konoha. He sighed as he was about to switch to the next photo before something occurred to him.

"_Uzu-shiogakure… Uzu? Wait, does that mean that Uzushiogakure was run and lead by Uzumaki's? Do I have a clan?"_ Naruto thought as his eyes bulged with realisation. He looked towards the old Hokage who was busy reading his reactions.

"Hey, you said **Uzu**shiogakure. Does that 'Uzu' in that also mean Uzumaki?" Naruto asked. The old Hokage stiffed a laugh as he nodded. Naruto's eyes bulged once again. He wasn't a nobody that had no origins! He was part of a clan! He actually had a clan that had some sort of talent at something!

To say Naruto was dumbfounded was an understatement. The old man behind the desk chuckled at the blondes reaction at learning such a thing.

"Wow, I'm part of a clan… that's amazing! But I guess since the village was destroyed that most of my family was killed, and my mother and tou-san died in the Kyuubi attack seven or eight years ago. I guess nothings really changed, but it's still nice to know." Naruto said with a small sad shrug. Hiruzen sighed as he closed his eyes.

"It's okay Naruto, maybe someday you can grow up and rebuild the clan in Konoha, or even rebuild Uzushiogakure if you wanted, and it's up to you." The Hokage said with a smile. Naruto smiled and shook his head surprising the old man.

"While I wouldn't mind rebuilding my family, Uzushiogakure is in the past, I will rebuild them here, in Konoha. I will also work towards my goal of becoming Hokage as well, I'll take that seat from you Jiji, I swear on my Nindo!" Naruto said with a smile. The old man nodded with a smile and gestured for Naruto to continue looking.

He flipped through more photos of his two parents; they grew happy over the years. Naruto even felt tears starting to brim his eyes. Finally he hit one photo that he just broke loose in.

The two were standing in their house with Jiraiya and Tsunade in the background. Minato was hugging Kushina from behind with his hands on her stomach. She was blushing was leaning against his chest as her hands were also rested on her stomach that had come to a bulge. Naruto put his hand to his mouth. He was in the photo; he was just a baby sitting in his mother's womb, not even aware of the world around him.

Sarutobi knew, without even looking, what photo Naruto was looking at. The old man closed his eyes and sighed.

"I took that picture; it was about a month after their wedding and a few weeks after their honeymoon. It was the one of the happiest days of their lives." He said as his thoughts drifted back to the happy days.

After a few minutes, Naruto managed to calm down as he stared at the picture that was wet from his tears. He wiped his eyes until something occurred to him, those two people appeared in most of his parent's pictures, he knew the male, but who was that blonde female with the purple diamond mark on her head?

"Hey, Jiji, who are those two in the background? They keep appearing in some of the pictures. I recognize the guy with white hair, we learned about him the academy, and he's Jiraiya of the Sannin right? One of the three legendary ninja, why is he in this picture? And who's that blonde lady?" Naruto asked as he narrowed his eyes, he could have sworn he had seen them before somewhere.

Sarutobi's eyes widened before he gulped mentally.

"_Oh. Shit. Tsunade and Jiraiya are his godparents! Oh he's going to be really pissed, I have to tell him, he obviously knows there's something important about them and he can tell if I'm lying since he can sense emotions! Oh boy, those two are going to get an ear lashing once Naruto grows up."_ Hiruzen thought with a sweat drop.

"Naruto… those are… well they are…eh, how do I put this exactly?" Hiruzen asked himself as Naruto raised an eyebrow at his Hokage's unfinished sentence. Naruto narrowed his eyes, hi Jiji was hiding something- no he wasn't he was trying to find a way to say something and it obviously wasn't easy.

"Spit it out Jiji, what are they doing in my parents photos?" Naruto asked. Sarutobi sighed, there was no escaping this.

"_I'm sorry, Tsunade, Jiraiya… I guess whatever punishment this boy will deliver is yours to bear on your own. You never stayed here to protect him, I guess it's your own fault."_ Hiruzen sighed in his thoughts.

"Naruto-kun, those two are you're… Godparents, named specifically by Minato and Kushina themselves, they wanted-" He never got to finish what he was going to say before Naruto exploded into Bijuu mode, going red with anger. Kurama sweat dropped slightly in the boy's mind before rolling his eyes and going back to sleep.

"**There my godparents!? What the fuck!? Where the hell are they! What are they doing that's so important that they couldn't have taken care of my over the past eight years that have been nothing but a living hell for me!"** Naruto said burning with rage. If he ever saw one of them, he was going to kick their asses up and down the elemental continents for just leaving him like that. Hiruzen sweat dropped and sighed sadly to himself.

"_I've condemned you both to your graves haven't I?"_

* * *

Somewhere in another part of the elemental continents, in a tree hanging over a female bathhouse, Jiraiya of the Sannin was giggling perversely as he scribbled notes down his trusty pad. He suddenly felt cold and shuddered heavily has he felt something hit him that he had never felt in a long time. Guilt, he felt scared. He looked behind him and saw nothing but trees and branches.

"I don't feel like peeking anymore." Jiraiya said with anime tears as he climbed down and went to take a cold shower. This feeling wouldn't go away!

* * *

In another part of the elemental continents, in a bar, Tsunade of the Sannin sat at a table with a huge bottle of sake with a group of men who all had cards in their hands. She had the cards she wanted; she knew she was going to win, until suddenly a large cold feeling dropped over her. She felt sick and cold, guilty about something she couldn't place her finger on.

Her head dropped miserably.

"I fold." She said as she got up and left the table, taking her sake bottle with her. A young raven haired girl chased after her master with a cute pink pig in her arms.

"Tsunade-sama, wait for me!"

* * *

Hiruzen had managed to calm the young blonde down and get him to drop his Bijuu mode, although he was still pissed. He had two people handpicked by his parents to take care of him if something were to happen to them, and he had never seen them, or heard from them ever. Oh how his Kaa-chan and Tou-san must be turning in their very graves.

"Can I keep these photos Jiji? They are the only thing that's close to family I have." Naruto asked nicely along with pouting. Hiruzen sighed as he nodded.

"Alright you can keep them. Just make sure nobody finds them, otherwise I will have mountains of paper work to do." He said with a smile. Naruto grinned weakly and gave the thumbs up.

"Well, I've gotta get going, I got academy tomorrow, don't want to be tired and it's getting late.' Naruto said as he walked towards the exit, folding the photos and sliding them into his pockets.

"I'll see you soon Naruto, learn well and train well under you academy sensei's. I'll be looking forward to your progress. Oh, and try and not hate Jiraiya-kun and Tsunade-chan too much. Tsunade had some family issues that she hasn't quite gotten over yet, and Jiraiya… well, he has business's to keep running." Sarutobi said. Naruto turned around with an evil smirk that made him go pale.

"I'm still going to kick both their asses next time I see them, if I ever see them." Naruto said with an evil sadistic smile as he left the room. Sarutobi knew that look on Naruto's face; it was the look he got when he was planning things, mainly for pranks. He prayed that kami-sama would have mercy on both Jiraiya and Tsunade if they were on Naruto's prank hit list.

* * *

**xXxXx Six Months Later xXxXx**

* * *

In what felt like no time at all, six months had passed as Naruto started to attend the academy like he had always wanted. It was strange though, everything the academy did felt very easy, the starting chakra control exercises the teachers got them started on was the leaf control exercise which Naruto frowned at and performed with no difficultly at all.

By this time, Naruto had fully mastered water walking exercises and had managed to extend his Bijuu mode time limit to two and a half hours. Life was good for Naruto as he easily integrated with the Academy life and his training with Kurama. It was a month ago when Kurama had started to teach Naruto one first most powerful technique known to a Bijuu, and that was known as the _Bijudama (Tailed Beast Ball)_.

However progression in this technique was extremely slow as Naruto was forced to learn basic chakra shape transformation to even begin this sort of Tailed Beast skill. Kurama had told him that in the Shinobi world, such a skill would be labelled as an S-rank Kinjutsu because of the sheer amount of damage it could cause. The giant fox had also informed him that if the time comes that the seal is indeed opened, Naruto would be able to form a Bijudama big enough to level an entire village to the ground and therefore, it would most likely be an S-rank Kinjutsu.

So here Naruto was, only eight years old and learning an S-Rank Kinjutsu and failing miserably at it. He had managed to get the chakra shape manipulation down quite fast which quite frankly shocked Kurama as most humans took at least a year or two get shape manipulation down and Naruto was able to do it in three months no less. Kurama came to the conclusion that Naruto had a very strong will and determination, and had an unnatural learning and progression ability. At one point the fox even thought that if he continued this way, the boy might become as powerful as the Rikudou Sennin!

The positive black chakra and the negative white chakra had to have a ratio of 8:2 and for Naruto, this was extremely aggravating. For the first few weeks after he had got chakra shape manipulation down, he managed to summon a _Bijudama _the size of his pinkie fingers, any larger, and the ratio would unbalance and promptly explode in his face sending him backwards a few hundred meters.

Kurama had told him it was something he would learn over time, but Naruto was fully set on doing what he set himself to do.

On the other side of Naruto's life, was his academy life, and surely enough he hated every living second of it. The amount of arrogance some of the kids had was frustrated, Kurama had even said that the dog boy Kiba had arrogance enough to put even the giant fox to shame. Kurama said that Naruto was at least Genin level by now and was at least two or three years in front of any of these shinobi dreamers.

Since that was the case, he was recommended to keep it on the down low, or keep a low profile and that meant absolutely no Bijuu mode when sparring with other students and Kurama couldn't stress that point enough. One sniff of his chakra and the teachers would be sending Naruto to the Hokage's office every single time he would even use the slightest bit of chakra. So his chakra was out of the question.

Kurama also said that during this time it would be a better time to hone his individual skills so he wouldn't have to rely on his Bijuu mode all the time. Kurama would rather have that as an ace in the hole if everything went wrong, or if the situation would absolutely call for it.

So as it stood, Bijuu mode would put Naruto happily at mid chuunin level and Naruto without the mode on was sitting at Genin level as an eight year old. Kurama was satisfied at Naruto's progression. This much progression in one measly year would have been impossible without the aid of the fox, but Kurama wasn't about to let it end here, he was going to push Naruto to the absolute limits, if he guided Naruto on the right path, he guess and predicted that Naruto could be easily Jounin elite level.

Kurama didn't know anything about the Shinobi arts, but he knew what they were called, there was: Genjutsu, Taijutsu and Ninjutsu. Those three were the basic three that most shinobi knew to a certain degree. However, there are three more sub categories that are just as dangerous as the first three… he should know, one of those was the reason he was stuck inside of Naruto in the first place, which is why he was now going to push Naruto to become a seal master. The sub-categories were Fūinjutsu, Senjutsu and Juinjutsu.

He was going to make Naruto learn fūinjutsu whether the boy wanted to or not, so that was a go.

Senjutsu was another matter altogether. Kurama wouldn't be able to help Naruto with that one, but if he would ever get the chance to learn it, he would be all for it. His Bijuu mode was in a sense, a form of Senjutsu, as it did have aspects to it that would resemble Senjutsu, like the sensing ability, but Senjutsu had increased and a wider range of sense, it also amplified Naruto's base abilities and would allow him to use Sage arts.

Juinjutsu was something that Kurama would want Naruto to stay away from. Cursed sealing techniques were something he wanted Naruto to have nothing to do with. It was dangerous enough that he was pushing Naruto to become the best, but some stones are better left unturned. There is no reason to possibly go into Juinjutsu.

Now before he could do any of this, he had to fix a little problem that concerned Naruto. Naruto was able to perform _Kawarimi_ and _Henge (Transformation)_ to a level of perfection, but Kurama had to face palm… or paw, as Naruto couldn't produce a decent _Bunshin no Jutsu (Clone Technique) _to save his life! Afterwards, Kurama had found that Naruto was unable to do something like that because producing a Bunshin required such a minuscule amount of chakra and since Naruto had so much. It was like taking a rain drop from the ocean, it was impossible.

So now, after six or seven months after the academy started, Naruto was currently making his way to the Hokage's office on advice from his tenant to fix this problem, otherwise Naruto would not be able to graduate and knowing the Yondaime's legacy, he was not going to let that be accepted so easily.

Walking into the Hokage's tower, the blonde walked past the secretary as she gaped at his ignorance and blatant disrespect. She could expect nothing more from a heartless _demon_ such as himself, so she ignored him as well, letting the Hokage deal with the boy as he saw fit.

As Naruto approached the door, he didn't even bother to knock as he opened it and walked in, hands in pockets with a yawn. It was rather early in the morning so Naruto wanted to get this over and done with as fast as possible so he could get back to trying to increase the size of his _Bijudama_.

"Ohayō oji-san, I need to talk to you about a problem I've been having with a certain jutsu." Naruto said casually as he came and stood before the Hokage of Konoha. If anyone other than Naruto did this then Sarutobi would have them doing E and D-rank missions for a month for such disrespect, however this was Naruto, and once Naruto got into the habit of something, it wasn't going to change as much as he would like it to. It wasn't to say that he didn't like it, it was a nice refresher from constant formalities bit still sometimes he wished Naruto could be a little more respectful.

"Ah, Ohayō Naruto-kun, what do you wish to talk to me about?" The old Hokage said as he shuffled papers around on his desk. The one thing he hated the most about this cursed job and he wondered how the previous Hokage's could have dealt with such madness.

Paperwork! He swore it would be the death of him one day. Naruto sighed as he started to talk.

"See, I've been having this problem, I have decent control over my chakra, I have already mastered water walking and chakra shape transformation, but I can't even produce a decent Bunshin… Kurama says it's because I have too much chakra, so I was wondering if you knew any other Bunshin techniques that require a lot of chakra." Naruto asked with a straight face. The old Hokage could tell Naruto was serious, there was no grin, or cheeky glint in his eyes and that told him that Naruto was actually asking for a technique that he could use to pass the Genin exams when they came around for his age group.

Sarutobi already knew that Naruto was a good three years ahead of every other academy student, and the Uchiha prodigy Sasuke was right now at the top of the class, but as it stood, Naruto was clearly more advanced than he was in all aspects. Naruto's intelligence was also that of a Jounin, he acted serious when the situation called for it, a good example was right now, so it was obvious that the boy was holding himself back in the academy to avoid gaining unwanted attention.

The boy looked for alternatives, and he clearly knew his strength and weaknesses and was clearly putting the effort in to rectify those weaknesses and turn them into strengths.

Sometimes he wondered what would have happened if Naruto was never chased into that forest and met Kyuubi… or Kurama.

However, as the case stands, Hiruzen suspected that the boy would grow up to do great things, and starting as early as he was also was a bonus. He wondered what kind of person Naruto would grow up to be, it was certainly a puzzle worth solving in the future.

Now what Naruto was requesting gave the old Hokage a little bit of thought. For a few minutes, there was silence as Sarutobi ran through multiple clone techniques that could work for Naruto, but in the end, he came to one possible technique that would work for Naruto, and even give him the biggest chance to improve faster and more efficient than he ever would, the only problem was the fact that the specific technique was classified as a B-rank Kinjutsu.

"I see, well I know of one clone jutsu that would work for you, but I'm afraid it's a Kinjutsu, and if word gets around that you know a B-rank Kinjutsu, then fingers will be pointing at me for teaching you something like that, however I am willing to help you, I did promise your parents to guide you on the right path and for that, I will make this a onetime acceptation." Hiruzen said carefully. Naruto's eyes narrowed and nodded.

Sarutobi got up from his desk and signaled for Naruto to follow.

Naruto followed the old Hokage to a door, in which Sarutobi made a quick few hand seals and slammed his palm against the wall. A character appeared, as it lit up brightly on the wall, it was Kanji for 'Seal'. As soon as he did this, he uttered something.

"Kai." The old man muttered as the wall gave a shudder and slid open to reveal a library that was lit by a few candles. This place reminded Naruto of some old forbidden archive of ancient and dangerous jutsu, probably aiming from B – S-rank jutsu only ever used by the elite Jounin and Hokages.

As Naruto looked around the room, continuing to follow his oji-san's lead, he came across a section that harbored more than a hundred books labelled under the category of Fūinjutsu. Naruto stared at it for a few seconds in wonder and amazement; he had read in the academy that his father, the Yondaime Hokage was an fūinjutsu master to the highest degree and only one other shinobi could ever rival his skills and that was his very teacher, Jiraiya of the Sannin.

"Hey Jiji, I heard fūinjutsu was the hardest to learn, is that true?" Naruto asked as the Hokage stopped in his tracks, turning around and walking back over to Naruto. They both stared at the countless numbers of books under the fūinjutsu label, Naruto with passion and Sarutobi with pride. Even though Naruto hadn't even said the words yet, Hiruzen knew exactly what he was going to say.

"Jiji, I want to become a fūinjutsu master just like my tou-san, in fact I want to be even better than him." Naruto said with determination. The old Hokage sighed deeply to himself… was there anything this boy couldn't do? He had befriended the great Kyuubi no Yoko and now, he was already at Genin if not Chuunin level in terms of speed, power, strength and intelligence, and now here he was… asking for the very books that turned his father into a legend.

How could he deny the child who had suffered most of his life? If anything, he owed Naruto all the rights he asked for.

"Alright Naruto, I'll let you borrow **_all_** of these books once we find you the clone technique you are asking for, and trust me when I say this, this technique will help you… **_a lot._**" Sarutobi said with a chuckle.

The two turned and kept walking down the ails of books and scrolls that where all put away nicely, covered in dust as if no one had used them for years or even touched them.

Finally, the two came to a section that was labelled 'Kinjutsu – Forbidden techniques!'

The Hokage for a few minutes, looked over a few scrolls and books, his eyes skimming the pages and fine black ink until get could find the certain Jutsu he was looking for. He was about to go to the Scroll of Forbidden Sealing until he found it.

"_Here it is, Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique) Classified B-Rank Kinjutsu due to severe chakra exhaustion user suffers from over use. The user can also suffer from mental stress and often death if used incorrectly. Recommendations for this Jutsu: User must have above Jounin Elite level chakra, if not Kage level chakra to utilize the technique to its maximum potential. User must have Jounin level chakra control to use this technique and the user also must be intelligent in the first place to use this Jutsu because too many clones and they will certainly die from the mental strain."_ He read in his head.

A number of reasons why this jutsu was labelled a Kinjutsu, but he had complete faith in Naruto to use a technique like this to its maximum potential. In terms of chakra, Naruto have mountains worth of it, including Kyuubi's, and the mental stress can easily be fixed as the Kyuubi would be able to sort through the information and slowly introduce it to Naruto's system, allowing Naruto to get the full benefits of this jutsu, it was perfect! Naruto could be well above Kage level if not even Sannin level by the time he exits the academy with this jutsu, the only thing he will be lacking is experience, and that is easily fixed with a few B – A rank missions.

Hiruzen rolled up the scroll and promptly handed it to the young blonde, who unrolled it again and read over. Hiruzen watched as the blondes eyes widened, and the widened even further. Naruto looked back between the scroll and back to his oji-san who was standing before him with a smile on his face.

"Oi, Jiji! Do you know what this means!? I can get like… I don't know, months of training done in just a week, and like a year's worth of training in just a few months! Kami-sama I can't even think of how much I can learn by the time I finish the academy! It will be three years before I can graduation and I could get like… seven years of training, if not even more! The possibilities their endless-" Naruto said before he was cut off by the Hokage by putting a hand on the young blondes shoulder, calming him down.

"Yes Naruto-kun I know… there is a reason I am giving you this jutsu, you see and I think you already know this because you told me yourself, you have an abnormal amount of chakra that easily outclasses my own, and adding the Kyu- I mean Kurama's chakra on top of that, would give you more chakra than I dare even imagine.

"The point is Naruto, you have to be careful with this jutsu, everything your clones learn is transferred back to you, and unless you want to die from the mental strain, I would limit the amount of clones you use when you use this technique. I expect you to do great things by the time you become Genin and no doubt, I believe with your drive, you can not only become the Hokage, but the greatest Shinobi ever to walk this plane." Hiruzen explained with pride in his eyes. He could truly now, see Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina in this boy, he was their living legacy, and no doubt, would grow up to become a legend.

"I will be careful Jiji, you don't have to worry, because I won't die until I become Hokage-attebayo! Now, I would like to borrow some of those fūinjutsu books if you don't mind, I would like to get an early start on learning my tou-san's favored art." Naruto said with a heart Uzumaki grin. Naruto ran off back to the fūinjutsu section and began pilling books and scrolls, everything he would need to get started.

"_Things just keep getting even more interesting as they go along! Maybe meeting the Kyuubi was the best thing to ever happen to Naruto… I've been a fool, I should have told him the moment he was conscious of the world around him, but it matters not now. Minato, Kushina, I hope your just as proud of your son as I am, he's going to be a great Shinobi one day."_

* * *

Another six months had passed and Naruto was well on his way to becoming a shinobi. Using _Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_ his progression in the shinobi arts sky rocketed past both his and Kurama's expectations.

To say Kurama was astounded at Naruto's sudden volt in progression was an understatement to its finest; it was almost as if Naruto was getting older by the week which was true, but you understand what he meant anyway. His excessive use of Kage Bunshin in his spare time after academy had pushed his understanding in fūinjutsu to advanced levels. He had mastered both beginner and intermediate stages in two months each, which was incredible because the time it should have taken would have been at least a year for each book.

Kage Bunshin was a blessed learning tool for our little blonde hero as his learning ability shot through the roof. Naruto was already at Jounin level for Fuinjutsu and was well on his way to Kage and then Seal master after that. But almost as expected, the difficulty when moving on from each stage jumped to a whole other level forcing Naruto into a road blond situation.

Naruto was forced to re-read the advanced books on fūinjutsu at least three times over to actually get the methods right. He also had to work on his hand writing because one false brush could end up making an entirely different seal, so he had more than one hundred clones working on intermediate seals, trying to get his hand writing to perfection while twenty other clones stand down and read through different advanced fūinjutsu books.

While this was all happening, the Naruto was working on his physical strength and pretty much everything his clones couldn't give him which was muscle density and raw physical power. Naruto also worked on extending his Bijuu mode time limit as he never knew how long shinobi battles really lasted for, so he really didn't want to take that chance.

The way he and Kurama had set up the training, was that at the end of each training session, Naruto would dispel five book reading clones every two minutes to allow his brain to process the information easier. He could dispel the hundred working on hand writing all at once as the mental strain wasn't that straining, it was more or less muscle memory.

Naruto was also surprised that fūinjutsu also helped out in ordinary everyday life. He didn't even need to worry about his apartment getting broken into anymore. All he would do was place some locking seals and some Genjutsu seals around the doors so that if anyone did break in, they would experience the meaning of _hell_. He put the seals on his doors, and windows.

He also made seals that the main water that came out of his shower was hot, since _strangely enough_ the land lord said that the heating pumps in that specific unit were broken beyond repair and unless Naruto could come up with a certain amount of money which was absolutely ludicrous amount, he could not get it fixed… well fūinjutsu solved that problem and he didn't even need to spent a single cent of ryo.

These sorts of seals were beginner seals, seals that kept his food in his fridge fresh, seals that kept his room insulated and homey. It was almost like he had moved into a different apartment once he had learned the fine art that was fūinjutsu.

The intermediate level of fūinjutsu was like making your own explosive kunai for example. More or less it was offensive and tracking seals that rested in the intermediate section. It also provided the ability to seal larger objects into scrolls such as furniture and maybe even human bodies when it came to proving you had killed a missing-nin.

Needless to say, Naruto was happy with his progress. However in the academy, people started to notice things about Naruto, so in order to change that, Naruto grudgingly dropped himself to the worst position in the last… the class _dobe _or the dead last as everyone referred to him as. He didn't like it, but he knew it was necessary to get rid of the rumors. People had begun to talk about how Naruto was actually a genius in disguise, hiding his true abilities. They had even said that he was actually a fūinjutsu master!

Even though he was not an fūinjutsu master, he was certainly noticeably good at it, so in order to get the people and Sasuke's death glare off him, he deliberately dropped his grades to the worst possible, only just good enough to pass. He mainly did this so that the rumors were dismissed and considered impossible. It was so that if someone did find out and tell others, people that hated him might try to hinder his progress, and he had no time or the patience for that.

He swore on the day of the Genin exams that got closer each day; he would reveal his true self. Only two years and nine months until his first Genin exam and it would be on that day, he swore he would come out as the best shinobi to ever be produced since Uchiha Itachi. He would be…

Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto!

* * *

A/N:

And that's it for chapter two! I like to think I did okay on this chapter. I would like to hear your feedback, reviews give me motivation to continue with the story. Feel free to suggest girls for the harem, I wouldn't mind seeing possibilities but keep in mind I don't plan on having more than six, maybe even seven at absolute max.

Next Chapter: A legend is born... Namikaze Naruto!


	3. A Legend is Born Namikaze Naruto!

A/N: Hey guys, I'm back! I decided to wait a while before posting this chapter so I could see your reviews. I am really grateful for the feedback, I am still an amateur writer when it comes to writing stories like these, I do like to improve on my spelling and grammar. However, I'm a Kiwi, I live in the place that people often mistake as Australia, I actually live in New Zealand. Some words are spelled differently here, I'm not making excuses or anything, I do try to convert as best I can.

I know that my writing sometimes switches between tenses, I've been told billions of times by my English teachers. English is my first language, I don't speak any other languages. I do try to find them, but I cannot spot them, I don't even know if I have done it in this chapter or not, but live and learn I guess, can't all be perfect. Practice makes perfect after all!

Now, as for Harems. If I have learnt anything on this website, it is that I as an author cannot please every single one of you. In the end, I make the decision about where my story goes, and who gets put in the Harem. Some of you will be disappointed, while others will be happy. Right now, I am sorry to you Hinata fans reading this story but she will **Not **be in the Harem. I have come to realize that she is very over used in other well-known Harem fics for Naruto. As for Sakura, she will **Not **be in the Harem either, but I have a specific roll for her in this story. She will become more or less an adoptive sister figure for Naruto, best friends so to speak. She will change throughout this chapter, sorry if it's too quick for your taste. She will also become very strong in this story.

Two people I will most likely put into the Harem is Yugito and Karin. They have been two that have been requested quite heavily and I am leaning towards those two as I like really like they're characters. It's mostly who I am going with as the first two, so that leaves four left.

Also lastly, I will be looking for a Beta reader for this story, so PM me if your interested. :)

In this chapter, Naruto reveals himself, and also has learned a very powerful technique. This will make him a lot stronger than he already his, but not unbeatable. He is not as Powerful as Orochimaru at this point, but he is quite close. Tsunade and Jiraiya will be bashed when Naruto first meets them, but it will be very short Bashing.

Anyway, enough Ranting, on with the Story!

* * *

Chapter Three

Today was the day, the big day. Today was the day Naruto was due to take his first steps into becoming Genin. It was also the day he had promised himself that he would no longer tolerate being called the dead last… or _dobe_.

Today he would show everyone he was not the dobe that he portrayed himself to be, today he would show them what it means to be a true Shinobi… today, Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto would become a fully-fledged ninja of Konohagakure no Sato.

For the remaining years that he spent at the academy, the last Uzumaki pushed himself to the absolute limit in his learning capabilities in the art of fūinjutsu. He never stopped to take breaks and it was because if he was going to be the best, he couldn't afford to stop, he couldn't take the chance, he needed all it all time he could get.

In that time, he had read countless books and learned numerous scrolls on fūinjutsu. In those remaining years, he had done what his father was a master in, what Jiraiya was said to be a legend at…

He had done the impossible!

At no older than twelve years old, Naruto had secretly trained and trained with the amazing tool that was _Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_. He learnt incredible techniques, pushing his intelligence potential to its absolute limit and had finally gained the title of 'Fūinjutsu Master'.

To make sure he wasn't fooling himself, he had made a couple of S-class seals he learned and began to decipher them, break them down to the fundamental level and then remake them. Another way he knew he had been worthy enough to take on the title was that he could finally read and decipher the seal that kept Kurama inside of him.

Once he had found out that he could decipher the seal, he had begun to develop his own key to unlocking the cage that kept Kurama inside him and to say the least, it was incredibly hard and border-lining impossible. He had to give his father some credit, and he definitely knew what he was doing at the time, too do all of this amazing work in one night, it was nothing short of godly work!

Countless numbers of paper sprawled out across his room, all different designs to creating his down counter key to unlocking the _Hakke no F__ūin Shiki (Eight Trigrams Sealing Style)_ that his father placed on him.

When Naruto examined the seal, he saw a number of other sub-seals that were placed on him along with the Eight Trigrams seal; he also found that one of the main seals was the _Shish__ō Fūin (Four Symbols Seal)_. Most of the techniques he had read were developed from the Uzumaki clan. It made him question if his mother Kushina was the true seal master in the family.

He found a Chakra Filter Seal, which spoke for itself. It came to his conclusion that maybe his father hadn't predicted on him and Kurama becoming friends so soon, and placed a filter seal so that Naruto wouldn't be harmed by Kurama's chakra if the case occurred that the giant fox would force its chakra on him.

When he examined it more closely, he discovered two foreign chakra signatures locked deep down within the seal and they resided in what seemed to be fail-safe security measures. When he looked even closer he found that they were triggered when certain things happened inside the seal.

One was triggered when he would remove the filter or if he had lost control and Kurama would have been able to get to eight tails stage. Another one would trigger when he actually opened the cage. He had no idea who the chakra signatures belonged to until the large fox had told him.

Apparently, to the shock of the blonde, the two actually belonged to his parents! Kurama had informed him that an embodiment of Minato would appear when he removed the filter, and an embodiment of Kushina would appear when the cage would open judging by the signatures behind each security measure.

To Naruto, it almost seemed like Minato had planned a lot of back up plans should the fox attempt to take over, but that was all null and void now, the fox and the boy were friends and nothing would ever dare and try come between their friendship.

Ever since then Naruto began the project to find a way to counter the seal his father placed on him and open the cage with a key of his own making, something a true seal master would be able to do.

It was a true test of his abilities.

However before he could make it, he needed to have a full scale diagram on how the seal on his body works, operates, and all the backup procedures and security seals that his father had placed on him, to effectively create his own key to the cage.

Even with Kage Bunshin he knew that creating a key would take a long time to actually make one. He knew he had to, because he had promised Kurama that once he became a seal master, he would use all his knowledge and skills he would gain to give Kurama freedom.

After all, if it wasn't for the fox by now, he probably would actually have been the dead last for sure and not have it as some fake act to get everyone off his back. Having to act like the dead last really pissed Naruto off, but it was necessary because if people found out about him he would have teachers and the people that hunted him for fun trying everything they could to stunt his growth.

Oh how it is so true… deception is a shinobi's greatest weapon.

* * *

Forcing himself out of his bed to get ready for the big day that lay ahead of him, he headed for the shower to wake himself up. Turning on the shower, it heated up almost instantly due the seal he had used on top of the shower head. He swore, at time like these, he really loved fūinjutsu.

After the shower, he quickly dried and headed back to his room to get dressed. He opened his wardrobe and smiled. In the wardrobe lay four sets of clothes that had been waiting for this day to come to light. Inside laid black track pants with black shinobi sandals.

The top half consisted of a black and orange striped jumper, and behind it, lay his own version of his father's trench coat, white with black flames around the edges. He smiled when he saw that piece of clothing. He was going to honor his father's memory and wear it with pride; however it had been altered slightly.

On the back of the trench coat, instead of 'Yondaime Hokage' in kanji on the back, instead it read _"Konoha no Tsugi Senkō" (Konoha's Next Flash)_ and for good reason too. It was because during this time period, Naruto was also at work deciphering another seal, something not as complicated but just as hard to crack as the seal that currently resided on his abdominal area. It was his father's signature jutsu.

The _Hiraishin no Justu (Flying Thunder God Technique)_

Naruto had managed to get his hands on four of his father's special tri-pronged kunai from Sandaime, who had been keeping them personally on him at all times since Minato's death. The old Hokage had destroyed all the evidence of the technique, but keeping four of the kunai's just for special cases. Needless to say, Hiruzen kept them on him at all times to avoid Danzo and other people like the old war-hawk from getting their hands on the infamous technique.

It took a lot of persuading on Naruto's behalf once the boy had found out, and a few days of showing the old Hokage just how far he had come in fūinjutsu just to coax the kunai out of him. The old Hokage couldn't believe the boy was almost at Jiraiya's level and the boy had only been doing the art for two years!

"_The wonders of Kage Bunshin huh… It's a good thing only Naruto is cut out for this type of training or we'd have people developing their own Hiraishin and racing around Konoha… I'm getting way too old for this!"_ Sandaime thought at the time and grudgingly gave Naruto the kunai's.

While studying the kunai's for months on end, Naruto began to figure out just what made them what they were and why literally no one, not even the legendary Jiraiya of the Sannin could crack this jutsu. That was saying a lot since Jiraiya is one of the supposed best fūinjutsu masters in the entire elemental continents.

Inside the seal was, at first a blood seal and this seal hid most of the important information that led to the making of the special kunai. This was the basic reason why no one else but he could use this jutsu.

After that seal, there were countless other safety seals to work through and decipher until he got to the main seal that actually caused the jutsu to gain its name.

"_Of course… It's a space time jutsu made with a reverse summoning seal! That's why this was an instantaneous movement technique, it's not speed, its teleportation!" _Naruto had thought at the time as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

In all honesty, it made understanding how the kunai's worked a little easier, but it took him a long time to be able to crack the jutsu for his own use. Needless to say, it was a tough ride, no wonder no one else was able to master such a jutsu, it was practically an artificial bloodline created by the man himself!

When the day came to light when he showed the Sandaime in private, the old Hokage nearly had a heart attack! An eleven, almost twelve year old learning one of the most dangerous S-Class jutsu's ever known to the shinobi world… it was almost to impossible to believe that the boy had pulled it off!

This little show told the old Hokage that the kid was now a seal master and was at least Jounin Elite level now, but where he was extremely skilled in fūinjutsu; he was still high Genin and low Chuunin in Ninjutsu, and Academy level in Genjutsu and an unknown level in Kenjutsu.

After this revelation, the Sandaime saw fit for the boy to wear his father's famed Hokage cloak, but the boy refused, saying that he had not earned the title of Hokage yet, and to wear that would be an insult. He was surprised at the boy's modesty, but the boy did request the same trench coat with a few modifications.

So the Sandaime went to the trouble of changing the coat for the boy, and putting the kanji the boy had requested on it, and quite ironically, the boy picked _Konoha no Tsugi Senkō _to honour his father. No doubt this would cause a lot of tension in the village, but as soon as Naruto showed him that he had mastered _Hiraishin no Jutsu_ to a certain degree, he was sure Naruto could take care of himself.

The boy truly was his father's son that much was obvious. When he first saw the boy in his new clothes, the pipe dropped out of his mouth, the boy practically looked like Minato. The only difference was the height, hair length and whisker marks on his cheeks. He even had that same serious demeanor that Minato had before going into battle or dealing with village politics. The boy also had Kushina's fiery gaze and burning passion. Sandaime could say with no false words that this boy carried the will of fire.

* * *

So now here he was, the young Namikaze himself, preparing for the day that would change and rock the very foundations of Konoha. Today he would hold nothing back, well maybe the Hiraishin if he really wanted, but that childish part of him wanted to rub it in everyone's faces when he got to the academy.

He had been hiding everything, keeping up the mask of the dobe for three years as he went through the academy… however, there was one person who knew the truth and Naruto knew he couldn't hide anything from him.

That dammed Nara Shikamaru!

That kid was too smart for his own good; he was much like Naruto, slept through classes and all. Though everything he said was "troublesome this" and "troublesome that". However, once Naruto decided to pull up the dobe mask, the young Nara saw right though it and turned up on Naruto's door step the very next day and casually demanded answers.

Naruto explained everything to him after a while of denying and then seeing no use in it. Once Naruto had finished, the things he had said didn't seem to surprise the young Nara, as if the kid was already piecing together the puzzle that was Uzumaki Naruto, or Namikaze.

Shikamaru just responded with, "Troublesome blondes and their weird personalities" and left without any further discussion. He had told everything to the young Nara, from Kyuubi to his father being the Yondaime, and the boy did not seem surprised in the slightest, and promised to keep it a secret if he wasn't too troublesome about it.

* * *

Naruto was happy to gain a new friend, and that brought him to today, where the Genin exams were being held. He was just putting the Hiraishin kunai's into his shinobi pouch that rested on his hip; when he heard a knock on his door. Sighing Naruto got up; putting that last of the four kunai's, very well hidden in the inside of his pouch and went to answer the door.

When he got to the door, Naruto made a few very quick hand seals, releasing about four different seals on the door before opening in.

"Hey Shika, what's up?" Naruto asked casually. The pineapple haired genius yawned and jerked his thumb towards the way of the academy while standing outside his door.

"You troublesome blonde, the Genin exam starts in five minutes, and unless you want Iruka-sensei to yell at us again, which I'd rather not listen to, we should get over there." The lazy Nara said with boredom. Naruto grinned as he stepped outside the door, closing it behind him, and repeating the hand seals he had made before, resealing his door again. The lazy genius watched with mild curiosity.

"I see you have a change of clothes… 'Konoha's Next Flash' huh? I take it you managed to get your fathers jutsu down to the mark?" The Nara asked. Naruto grinned back as he took out the special kunai and twirled in on one of his fingers, showing it off for a few seconds before slotting it right back where he got it from.

"You know me, also wanting to learn more! Yeah, I did, but I only have the four that Hokage-Jiji gave me, I need to learn how to actually make them. Believe it or not, making them is actually harder than using them." Naruto sighed as he and the lazy genius walked to the academy together. Naruto may have been able to use the jutsu, but he hadn't been able to break down the jutsu to the fundamental level yet, so he couldn't make an actual Hiraishin kunai, but he was close, very close.

You could say it was like having materials, but not exactly knowing how it came together. He had his father's original ones, but working backwards was a lot harder than working forwards, it would give him a head ache if he thought about it to long.

It wasn't long before Naruto started to get hateful glares from passing some villagers, so he and Shikamaru took to the roof tops to head towards the academy; needless to say, he just wanted this day to be over.

A few nights ago, Naruto had broken into the Hokage's office and reviewed some of the teams. It was amusing to see that the teams had already been picked despite the exams having no even taken place yet; it was like they knew who was going to pass and who was going to fail.

Naruto paled heavily when he saw what team he was one, but then lightened when he saw who his sensei was. He was stuck on a team with the pink haired Banshee and the stuck up Uchiha with an unhealthy obsession to kill the man who had slaughtered his family all on the one night. Ironically, this same man was his brother, Uchiha Itachi.

Naruto rolled his eyes at that.

Then there was Sakura… he had to pretend to have a crush on her to maintain his dobe attitude, he really didn't like taking those beatings, and half the time he almost countered through sheer instinct. Though, after a while he saw it as pain tolerance training and not long after the first few weeks of being her punching bag, her punches felt like being hit by a small stones.

However, when he saw who his sensei was, he became interested in this team, Hatake Kakashi, Jounin Elite, former ANBU Black ops, also known as Kakashi of the Sharingan.

What interested him even more were the man's Genin days. He was a student of the Yondaime Hokage, or Naruto's father along with two others: Nohara Rin and Uchiha Obito.

Naruto began to read up on his abilities, and at one point he was even tempted to steal the personal file which he ended up doing.

Both his Genin teammates were killed in Action. There were reports of psychological trauma, depression, and even hallucinations of his team mates dying… and some of these were reasons for his draft into ANBU.

His sensei sounded like he was a real downer; he wondered how he would fare as a sensei.

* * *

As Naruto and Shikamaru entered the Academy grounds, they walked through the doorway and into the school for ninja. They both strolled down the halls like they actually owned them. Some of the juniors looked at Naruto in awe as he walked past with a genuine smile on his face. The smile seemed to radiate determination and confidence, even the Nara had to admit Naruto gave off an aura that made you want to work harder.

Finally they got to their classroom door; the two could already hear Iruka calling out the names on the roll. Naruto snickered as he held a hand across Shikamaru's chest, signalling him to wait. Already knowing what Naruto was going to do, making the boy sigh and mutter "troublesome" and obeyed Naruto. Soon Iruka reached his name.

"Naruto? Uzumaki Naruto?" Iruka called out. Another voice came up, the voice belonged to Kiba.

"Ahaha! Maybe the dobe decided to call it quits on the life of a ninja, truth be told he never really had it in him in the first place." Kiba said with arrogance staining his every word. Suddenly, the door to the classroom opened with a slam as it slid to the side. In came Naruto with Shikamaru behind him looking at the ceiling with a bored expression, it was like being at the academy was the bane of his existence. Naruto gazed up at Kiba with a disgusted look on his face.

"What's that mutt? How about you come and say that to my face." Naruto said with a taunting smirk. Kiba stood from his seat and growled, his pup growling along with him.

"Stay right there dobe! I'll be more than happy to oblige!" Kiba grinned with a confident smirk. Iruka, who was now just shaking his head out of amazement at Naruto's new appearance, he could have sworn he looked just like the Yondaime.

"Kiba sit down this instant! Naruto, Shikamaru, please take a seat." The academy teacher ordered. Naruto and Shikamaru went up and took their seats lazily. Some people where still staring at Naruto because of the new clothes and attitude. Ten minutes had passed and Iruka was already explaining the rules of the exam while everyone sat quiet… it was too quiet.

Some people were looking at Naruto out of the corner of their eyes, waiting for him to make a stupid predictable outburst at how he didn't care and was going to become Hokage someday. However, all they got was a silent, seriously looking, and bored Naruto… and a bored Naruto never meant anything good.

However they all noticed something strange, they boy was sitting next to Hinata, and didn't even glance once at Sakura or Sasuke. They were all too focused on what happened to the Naruto-Baka they all knew. If they didn't know any better, they would say that it was someone else under the hedge of Naruto. However there was one person who wasn't thinking that, this certain individual was thinking of all the possible reasons that her crush just happened to be sitting next to her!

Hinata was practically sweating bullets, trying to keep her cool as she sat next to her crush and idol. She was sparing a couple of nervous glances at Naruto and then getting caught by him then instantly turning the other way. She felt like her face was going to explode because it was so red, or she was going to pass out!

Finally the testing started. One by one they were called down an instructed to perform, Kawarimi, Hedge and Bunshin, the final part of the test before they were to become Genin. The previous parts had been done on other days which he all passed, except for the written test which he failed on purpose.

Finally it was Naruto's turn as he made his way down in front of the class. A few throw away comments at how he was a failure, and his failure in Bunshin was common knowledge, no one was expecting him to pass, well except for Shikamaru who was already fast asleep.

He quickly performed both Kawarimi and Henge perfectly, surprising a few people, but his next one was about to stun everyone. Iruka coughed before reading out the next requirement for Genin, he was nervous for Naruto; hopefully he would be able to produce a decent Bunshin this time.

"Naruto, please use _Bunshin no Jutsu_." Iruka said eyeing the blonde carefully. The blonde shrugged and made a hand seal, and to Iruka and his assistant Mizuki surprise, it wasn't a common clone seal. Naruto grinned before using the Jutsu.

In less than a second, the entire room went up in a puff of smoke, when it cleared a few seconds later, behind every student and both the teachers, stood a perfect Naruto clone all smiling and grinning at the teachers. Mizuki seethed quietly while Iruka and the rest of the class's eyes bulged from their sockets. There you have it, Naruto… the number one most surprising ninja in Konoha.

Iruka turned to put a hand on Naruto and his eyes actually widened even further when his hand had actually made contact with the clone! His head spun to Naruto, demanding answers.

"Naruto! This jutsu… its!-" Iruka stammered before Naruto cut him off with a hand held up. Naruto sighed; it was going to be a _long_ day.

"Yes Iruka-sensei, this technique is called _Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_. It solves the problem that I had before with regular Bunshin. You see I have way too much chakra for just a regular Bunshin so I went to Hokage-Jiji and he gave me this jutsu. Pretty cool don't you think?" Naruto said with a grin. He could practically feel Sasuke's eyes burning holes into the back of his head. Iruka was dumfounded at this revelation.

"A-alright Naruto… it seems you actually passed! Well done, here's your Hitai-ate. Please return to your seat, congratulations." Iruka said in an almost disbelieving tone. Naruto calmly returned to his seat with his Hitai-ate around his forehead and sat down next to Hinata who just smiled, breathing silent thanks for Naruto passing.

"Man, I could really do for some Ramen after this." he said out loud. It had become his regular routine after every class in the academy. He had to blow off some steam after being abused and called _dobe_ all day. He would do this by either training, or viciously attacking and destroying bowl after bowl at Ichiraku ramen with his mouth.

"Alright class! Well done today, when you return tomorrow, we will give out your teams and sensei's." Iruka said before he used Shunshin to leave as well as Mizuki, giving Naruto one more hateful glare, he would deal with the boy later.

Sasuke, who was now getting up to go and demand answers from Naruto, turned to find both he had vanished. He seethed as he walked out with Sakura and Ino following after him, calling after him and begging for his love in return, he just scoffed and walked away, an avenger doesn't need love, he only needed strength and power to kill _him_.

* * *

Naruto had found himself sitting at one of his favorite places in the world. He sat at the best ramen stand on the planet, the famous Ichiraku ramen. Although it wasn't famous in Konoha, but it was famous for Naruto, he loved being here and it cleared his head. He knew ramen wasn't healthy, and Kurama and practically purged the stuff from Naruto's eating habits to make sure his growth wasn't stunted, but that didn't mean he wasn't allowed it from time to time.

Naruto sat down and smiled as two of his very few precious people came into view. Naruto grinned as he pointed to his Hitai-ate.

"I passed-ttebayo! " Naruto exclaimed with his large foxy grin. Ayame and Teuchi smiled at Naruto as they got their cooking tools set up for Naruto's predictable overly large order. Honestly when it came to Naruto or the Akimichi family members on their own, it was like cooking for an entire army! There was a time that Naruto had almost ate them out of business!

"That's great Naru-chan! Now you can start to achieve that dream you're always yelling about. You're one step closer to becoming Hokage!" Ayame said with a prideful smile on her face. Naruto waved her off as he looked away from the praise with a blush. Teuchi coughed as he smiled.

"I think a celebration is on order! Congratulations on passing the bar exam Naruto, you have grown up nicely. Here, first four bowls are on the house. The rest you have to pay for." Teuchi said with a smile. Naruto's eyes widened, stars exploding inside, he never got this many bowls for free, normally he got the first bowl for free and the rest were discounted.

As the food was served, the two workers leaned over the counter as they observed Naruto as he ate. He had a few bowls to get through and it had been a long.

"So… Naruto, do you know who you teammates are and who your sensei is yet? I bet it's exciting to know that you passed and you will finally end up on a team with a super cool sensei and cool teammates." Ayame said. Naruto scoffed at the latter.

"Hardly, I have Sasuke-teme and Sakura as teammates. They're both annoying to a point where I want to rip my hair out. Sakura is obsessed with Sasuke-teme to the point where it is scary, and my sensei is apparently a depressed, ruthless ninja." Naruto said. Ayame scowled when she heard that Sakura and Sasuke were in his team.

She had heard about him drone on and on about how Sasuke was a brooder who couldn't move past his families slaughter, but honestly who could blame him? He had witnessed first-hand the demise of his family. It's obviously enough to cause some sort of mental trauma, but there was no reason to fixate yourself on killing the person responsible as well as pushing everyone away that actually cares about him. He makes everyone around him feel like crap, and guilty about his clans demise, especially when they had nothing to do with it.

"I mean, at least he _had_ a family. I grew up without a family, and I am still treated like a plague, and not to mention I am still almost beaten towards an inch of my life every time my birthday comes around. And it's like he has the balls to call his life hard! He has the council at his feet, praising him because he's the last Uchiha… while the Yondaime's son is cast like raw meat to the village dogs." Naruto scowled in disgust.

Ayame and Teuchi nodded in agreement. They had remembered the time Naruto had told them about his heritage. They weren't exactly surprised since both they had been making Ramen for Minato and Kushina in the times before he was even born. They remembered that this place was the place that Minato had taken Kushina on their very first date. It was so cute.

"What about your sensei? Do you know anything about him other than the fact that he's a depressed, ruthless ninja?" Teuchi asked with interest. Naruto hummed for the moment as he took a moment to swallow the noodles he already had in his mouth.

"Yeah, he's known as _Sharingan no Kakashi (Kakashi of the Sharingan)_ and apparently he's one of Konoha's best and most talented Jounin Ninja. He used to be in ANBU black ops, whatever that is." Naruto said as he finished his last bowl and got up, paying the extra amount for the extra bowls he had.

"Anyway, thanks for the food, but I might head on off and get some extra training in. I need to become the greatest shinobi ever and pass my tou-san if I ever want to become Hokage." Naruto said. "_Yeah, that and to get enough power to beat my godparents asses when I find them. Oh man I am going to rain hell down upon them for leaving me here all on my own!"_ Naruto thought. He heard Kurama snicker in his mind.

"Alright, we'll see you when you next stop by, don't be a stranger Naru-chan!" Ayame said as Naruto walked off. He just replied with a wave before making a hand seal and vanishing with a pop of smoke.

* * *

Naruto was already heading to the academy the next day for team selections. He was running a little late as he slept in because he was up most of the night splitting his time between, figuring out how to make more Hiraishin seals and cracking the seal on his body. Needless to say, Naruto had a lot on his plate.

Walking into academy this morning, Naruto got a lot of strange looks; most of the looks were directed at his Hitai-ate, most believing that Naruto couldn't have possibly passed since he recognized as the dobe. Most of the younger students looked at him strangely mainly because he looked like absolute crap and had been through hell itself.

He had bags under his eyes, and he looked like he was half asleep as well as bored just by walking down there halls with his hands in his trench coat pockets. His hair was a mess and his eyes were bloodshot, but that changed when he went to the bathroom and quickly threw cold water over his face to wake up properly. He shuddered when the cold water splashed his face, he always got Goosebumps when he did that, he hated the feeling but loved it at the same time.

After that he went to his designated class and took a seat, just in time for Iruka to appear and start to announce the teams. Naruto gained a tick mark on his head by how many people were staring at him. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to play the dobe for three years, because now people are going to be asking questions. Oh well, he was powerful and smart enough to know how to deal with those people.

Well, you know what they say; deception is a shinobi's greatest weapon. It's not his fault that these idiots couldn't see past his mask, well he had to give them a little credit, Shikamaru didn't buy it for a second and some of the other kids like Hinata and Ino had been suspicious.

Things were mostly boring until Iruka started to call out Team Seven's Genin and Sensei.

"Team Seven! Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke-" Iruka called out before he was interrupted by a squeal of delight, curtsey of Sakura.

"YES!" She squealed. Iruka shook his head and sighed. A particular blonde girl in the class pouted and moaned at the fact that Sakura had gotten to be with the boy that she cared so deeply for.

"- And Uzumaki Naruto-"

"NO!" The same voice rang out. People were waiting for another 'YES' from Naruto because they all knew he had a crush on Sakura and wanted everything to do with Sakura, but what they got was a bored, quiet Naruto who looked like he was about to fall asleep.

"Your Sensei is Hatake Kakashi." Iruka finished. The rest of the time in class was spent reading out the teams. Team eight was Kiba, Shino and Hinata with Kurenai as Team Eight's sensei. Then Team ten with the classical Ino-Shika-Cho combo and Asuma as the team's sensei. It was obvious that team was going to be stuck together since all their family Jutsu made such a deadly combo.

"Alright everyone, that's the teams for your Genin year group, once again well done and I wish you all the best in your ninja careers. Your Jounin Sensei will be here shortly to pick you up." Iruka said before both he and Mizuki vanished in a puff of smoke.

It was only another painful three hours later that Team Seven was still sitting in the classroom waiting for their Jounin sensei to show up. Sasuke was sitting in his seat, brooding like he normally was; Sakura was pacing around the entrance of the classroom while Naruto was leaning back in his chair looking at the ceiling talking to Kurama inside his head.

Just in that moment, the door slid open to reveal a man, with most of his face covered by a mask and his Hitai-ate slanted slightly to cover his left eye. He had long spiky gravity defying silver hair and he was rather tall and lanky looking. However Naruto wasn't fooled though, he wasn't Kakashi of the Sharingan for nothing, he was one of Konoha's best shinobi so this man had to be the real deal, but to Naruto, and he didn't look like much. However looks can be deceiving.

"Team seven I take it?" Kakashi said with a bored tone. Sakura marched right up to the scarecrow and put on her angry face which made Kakashi sweat drop.

"Sensei! You're late!" Sakura screeched. Naruto annoying picked at his damaged ear with his pinkie, trying to heal the damage. Sasuke rolled his eyes while Kakashi sweat dropped even more.

"My first impression of you three… I hate all of you. Meet me on the roof in five minutes." He said before disappearing in a puff of smoke. Naruto sighed before doing the same leaving both Sasuke and Sakura looking at both empty spots where they had both been a second ago. Sasuke was seething as he looked at where Naruto had been sitting.

"_How did the Dobe do that? Why has he changed so suddenly? A week ago he couldn't even stand in a proper Taijutsu stance and form a Bunshin. Now all of a sudden he's all cool and flashy? What has he been hiding?" _Sasuke seethed. Sakura followed Sasuke hesitantly, wondering what had annoyed the Uchiha prince so much. Naruto had really surprised her, not even once today or yesterday had he approached her and asked her on a date, or even called her 'Sakura-chan'.

When Sasuke and Sakura made it to the roof, Naruto was lying on his back watching the clouds while Kakashi was reading some sort of book while giggling perversely.

Naruto never took Kakashi for the perverted type, especially from what he had read from his file. He had seen those books before, once even taken a peek. He hated that kind of smut, it made him sick to the stomach; however he had developed a _certain jutsu_ off reading a little bit of the book that would work on people like Kakashi.

Sakura could never get close enough to tell because the elite Jounin put it away as soon as they got close.

"Alright, so you guys are Team seven… hmm, you don't look like much. Let's start with introductions shall we?" the Cyclops said with a lazily looking eye. He pointed to Naruto, wanting him to go first, however Sakura intervened.

"Um, sensei, shouldn't you go first since you're our teacher and all? It only seems right…" Sakura suggested. Kakashi rolled his eyes and sighed, he knew by the look of her she was a book worm with barely any talent as a shinobi. Yeah, he was a good judge of person… came with the job description.

"Alright, I'm Hatake Kakashi, I have may dislikes and likes… as for my dreams and hobbies I don't exactly feel like telling you." Kakashi said turning and pointing to Naruto. 'Blondie, you're next.'

Naruto sat up and yawned and then gave a toothy grin to his teammates and new sensei.

"My name is Uzumaki _Namikaze_ Naruto, I like Ramen and training, I also like my _tenant _as he is a good friend, I like nice people and I also enjoy spending time with Hokage-Jiji. My dislikes are people who think their better than everyone, I dislike people who beat people up for trying to be nice…" Naruto said looking at both Sakura and Sasuke. "And I also hate the three minutes that it takes to cook Ramen. And I also dislike people who are late." Naruto said glaring at Kakashi who was having a heart attack at the hints that Naruto was dropping.

"_He knows sensei is his father?! He also knows and is apparently friends with Kyuubi? I'm going to have to have a chat with Hokage-sama after the test tomorrow, he knows far too much."_ Kakashi thought as he narrowed his eyes at Naruto as the blonde Namikaze continued with his introduction.

"My dreams for the future are to become the Hokage, and the greatest shinobi to ever live, I also dream to surpass my father and bring peace to the world. My hobbies are hanging out with my friends and training in fūinjutsu." Naruto said as he lay back down and started to watch the clouds again. He had to hand it to Shikamaru, it was a great way to relax and pass the time.

Kakashi's eyes narrowed on the boy once more. "_He's learning fūinjutsu? The reports said he was the dobe of the class? What's going on, fūinjutsu is supposed to be the hardest art there is to learn… then again he is an Uzumaki and Kushina-san did have a talent in it so it must be an Uzumaki thing?"_ Kakashi summarized. He turned to Sakura next.

"You, pinkie, you're up." Kakashi said. Sakura cleared her throat.

"Well my name is Haruno Sakura, as for my likes…" She blushed and turned to Sasuke who scoffed. "Um, my dislikes are lazy people and people who act stupid and people who confuse me! My dream is to…" She turned to Sasuke again and squealed and blushed even more than last time making the entire group sweat drop. "And my hobbies are…" She blushed even harder and turned away from Sasuke in shyness. Naruto resisted the urge to face palm, knowing that Kakashi and Sasuke were feeling the same.

"O-kay… You, brooder, you're up." Sasuke scoffed and closed his eyes, then opened them again with serious killing intent that made Kakashi sigh and roll his eyes.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke, I have little likes and a lot of dislikes… my dream- no, I would call it an ambition to kill a certain man, and restore my clan and its honor. Nothing else matters." Sasuke said coolly. Naruto snorted while looked at Sasuke with a worried look, she didn't exactly like his goal but he acted so cool! Kakashi sweat dropped as he summarized the group in his head.

"_Great, I have a brooder, an overly interested fan girl, and sensei's son and by what he's saying, I have no idea what skills he could be actually hiding…"_ Kakashi thought to himself as he examined the group one more time. He noticed that Naruto was wearing a trench coat that was strikingly similar to his sensei's Hokage coat. A shift in the breeze picked it up off the ground and for a split second, allowed Kakashi to read the kanji on the back.

_"Konoha no Tsugi Senk__ō__… Could he actually have- no it's impossible, even if he is sensei's son he couldn't know **that jutsu**."_ Kakashi thought. After a few seconds, the scarecrow sighed.

"Alright, that should be enough for today. Tomorrow at seven a.m. sharp, meet at training ground seven, we are going to go through a test to see if your fit to be Genin or not." Kakashi explained. Sasuke narrowed his eyes while Sakura gasped, Naruto looked intrigued.

"B-But sensei! We already are Genin!" Sakura protested. The white haired sensei sighed.

"Are you talking about that little pathetic test in the academy? Please, any idiot could have done that and passed. Tomorrow we will be doing a test of my choosing, oh and this test has a sixty six percent failure rate, so that means out of your year group, only three teams will pass. Well more could but it's more of a prediction than a numbers game." Kakashi said as he turned around to look out over Konoha. He was about to leave before he turned his head and gave his team his trademark one eye smile.

"I suggest you don't eat breakfast tomorrow morning, or you will throw up. Ja ne!" Kakashi said before vanishing again. Naruto sighed and got up, leaving in a flash as well, he had some things to do, training and reading up on Kakashi's personal profile, there were still pages to get through.

"Later Sakura, Sasuke-teme." Naruto said before vanishing. Sasuke seethed once again because he couldn't even get a word out to Naruto before the blonde vanished into thin air. He really wanted to know how to do that! It wasn't fair, how could the dobe do it and not him? Did he miss something? Why did he refer to himself as Namikaze Naruto? There were so many questions in Sasuke's mind, he needed answers and he would find them.

"Sasuke-kun would you like to go out on a da-" Sakura started before Sasuke rudely cut the pink haired girl off.

"No, go away. Haven't you caught on yet? I don't like you, and never will. Please, leave me alone and stop trying to get me to go out with you. I honestly don't like anyone of you in our class. You will all get in my way and hold me back from achieving my goal." Sasuke said before walking off.

Sakura sighed and walked slowly behind her beloved Sasuke-kun in defeat, she wished he would open up a little more… maybe if he was a little more like Naruto she would be able to catch him.

"_I don't get it, I get it his family was slaughtered, but it's not like he's the only one who's had a hard life. My parents hate that I want to be a ninja. I heard some rumors that Naruto lives on his own and has no one. Why is he so cold? Is it so hard to open up once in a while?"_ Sakura thought to herself as she began to walk off home.

For once in a very long time, she decided it was time to reassess her feelings for Sasuke. She had some serious things to do, and first was she needed to sort out her feelings.

* * *

Naruto sighed as he leaped from roof to roof to get back home. The sun was setting and things needed to be done. He also wanted to finish off some of the final fūinjutsu highly advanced books he had got from Sandaime so he could finally get started on learning some Ninjutsu. When Naruto reached his door, he was about to make a few quick hand seals before a shadow blocked his vision for a few seconds and then disappeared.

Naruto's eyes narrowed as he jumped up to the top of his apartment roof and looked around. He saw a figure running to the edge of the village walls and out into the forest, carrying something on his back, something that looked like a large scroll that looked quite important. He could have sworn he had seen it before somewhere.

"_I don't like the look of this."_ Naruto thought before taking off after the mysterious man. Naruto considered himself one of the fastest Shinobi of his age, maybe in the entire village, probably on par with the Sandaime himself, perhaps Kakashi and he was definitely faster than some ANBU, so catching up to this guy wasn't exactly hard. By the speed this guy was going, Naruto would have said this guy was low Jounin, or Chuunin level for sure, however when Naruto finally cut off the man in some woods outside Konoha, he was surprised to see who it was.

"Mizuki-sensei, what are you doing with that scroll?" Naruto asked calmly as he slowly reached into his pouch for a few regular kunai, in case things got ugly. He could hear the man curse, and he could also see the panic behind the man's eyes.

"Of course the dam demon brat would know, you probably smelt me didn't yea? You and your dam fox sense!" Mizuki spat as Naruto looked at the man with a comical question mark over his head. Was Mizuki always this stupid? How did he make academy sensei again?

"What are you talking about Mizuki-Baka, I saw you jumping across roof tops at a panicked pace so I thought I would follow you to see what was up. Though now it looks to me like you're up to something… and not the good kind." Naruto narrowed his eyes at his ex-academy teacher.

Mizuki growled a few curses and threw a barrage of shuriken at Naruto who calmly deflected every single one with an ordinary kunai. Naruto's eyes closed as he shook his head.

"Yeah, you're up to something since you just tried to kill me, give up and I won't tell Hokage-Jiji." Naruto said with a bored attitude. Naruto was about to launch his own barrage of kunai before a familiar voice sounded behind him.

"Naruto!" Iruka shouted as the scarred chuunin landed next to the blonde protectively. When Iruka landed he had kunai's in both hands, ready to fight. Naruto raised an eyebrow at the fact Iruka had managed to find them. Even when he use to prank ANBU when he was bored, he used it for stealth training, but he always managed to find him, and it annoyed the blonde Jinchuriki to no end that he was always found so easily by his academy sensei.

"What the hell is going on here?" Naruto asked as he returned his gaze back to Mizuki who was crouched on a tree branch a few meters away. The silver haired Chuunin laughed as Iruka growled.

"Naruto, he's a traitor! He stole the Forbidden scroll of seals from the Hokage's office!" Iruka exclaimed. Naruto growled as he turned to Mizuki who was laughing on the branch he was standing on. He knew he had seen that scroll before somewhere.

"Oh, don't tell me; the weak chuunin academy sensei and the demon brat are going to fight me? Bah! I should just kill both of you right now." Mizuki sneered as he pulled out a hand full of shuriken and kunai ready to throw, however Naruto cocked an eyebrow.

"Demon brat? What the hell do you mean Mizuki-teme?" Naruto said playing along, oh how he was going to use Bijuu mode to break this bastard. He felt himself slowly introduce Kurama's chakra to his system. Kurama told him it was a waste to use such power on this weakling but Naruto really wanted to break this guy. For some reason this guy just rubbed him the wrong way, just like Sasuke-teme.

Iruka started to panic as Mizuki gained a look of crazy blood-lust.

"Oh, you don't know? Well let me ask you this… do you know why all those villagers hate you so much? Do you? Have you ever wondered why no one wanted you?" Mizuki started, while Iruka was sweating bullets.

"Mizuki, no! That's an S-Class secret! I'll have to kill you if you tell him!" Iruka said not wanting to kill one of his so-called friends. Mizuki just sneered and spat at Iruka.

"I don't care! You see Naruto, twelve years ago, the Kyuubi no Yōkō that was supposedly killed by our beloved Yondaime, wasn't actually killed at all. Do you know what happened to the demon Naruto?" Mizuki grinned. Iruka was stunned, he couldn't move, his whole body froze up, if Naruto found out now, what would he do?

With Naruto, the boy was carefully staring at the silver haired Chuunin who was grinned sadistically back at him. Naruto was busy laughing inside of his head along with Kurama; oh the fox loved it when Naruto played innocent just to reveal how he knew all along. Kurama had especially paid extra attention these past few days as Naruto revealed his true self.

"**_Those little children call themselves 'Shinobi', Bah! They can't even see through a mask, the only Shinobi I saw in that class was yourself and that Nara boy."_** Kurama had said.

"So what really happened to it then?" Naruto asked dumbly, Mizuki laughed and grinned.

"You see Naruto, the Kyuubi no Yōkō was actually sealed inside of you! Do you get it now? You are Kyuubi, you are the nine tailed Fox Demon!" Mizuki laughed manically. Iruka cursed and looked down in shame. Naruto brought up his hands and looked at them, and examined himself over a few times before looking back at Mizuki with a confused look.

"I don't understand what you mean? How can I be the almighty Kyuubi? Do I even look like a fox? I don't see nine tails behind me; you know you ought to- bah! You know screw this act!" Naruto said with a frown and crossed his arms. Mizuki looked stunned while Iruka looked up at Naruto in confusion.

Truth was, Naruto had been looking for an excuse to cut loose, he had wanted someone to pound and kick someone's ass into the next world and now he finally has his chance.

"Mizuki-Baka, I already know Kyuubi is sealed inside me, and to be quite honest, I like it, he's my friend. And believe me when I say this I don't like it when people call me or Kurama-san a demon. None of you know what actually happened on that night so you can't exactly say anything… now as punishment Mizuki-teme, I'm going to use _Kyuubi's_ chakra to break both your legs and arms, and then I am going to end your Shinobi career." Naruto said coolly. Mizuki was about to respond but Naruto slammed his hands together, and in a second, he his body was engulfed in a yellow flame.

Naruto's added trench coat seemed to be floating in a non-existent breeze. And six magatama appeared around Naruto's neck. His loose fabric that hung down his back from his Hitai-ate was now defying gravity as it was floating upwards as if there was some breeze that was coming from beneath Naruto.

The most obvious feature to Naruto was that both Iruka and Mizuki could practically feel both Naruto and Kurama's chakra mixing together to become a single heavy density chakra.

Before Mizuki could even utter a word, Naruto was in front of him, grabbing his leg with one hand, dragging him off the branch he was crouched on, and throwing him towards the ground, causing dirt and rock to fly everywhere on the impact of his body.

Naruto landed on his feet next Mizuki who was busy groaning in pain, muttering about demon children and how evil they were, and how they should be killed before they can become powerful. Naruto roll his eyes before walking over to Mizuki and ruthlessly shattering all the bones in both of his legs with chakra infused punches.

The silver haired chuunin's screams could be heard from miles away.

Naruto knew it was completely unneeded to use Bijuu mode to deal with someone like Mizuki, but he had really wanted to use it lately to fight someone lately with the intent to kill.

He had been itching to fight with it and hadn't got the chance. Mizuki was a nice surprise to the blonde, he didn't like the fact that Iruka had seen it, but he knew his ex-sensei would tell them too much. It was a little hard to describe Bijuu mode if you weren't the one using it. Iruka watched, unable to even move and it was even hard for him to breath.

Here Naruto was… that only a few days ago was the class clown and joke of Konoha was effectively crippling Mizuki, a fully trained and experienced Chuunin level shinobi like it was just a walk in the park. But that's not what shocked him, it was Naruto's passive use of Kyuubi's chakra, and this time it felt almost… natural, it wasn't that burning blood lusting chakra he had felt twelve years ago, it felt almost warm… pure to the scarred academy teacher.

_"W-Was Naruto h-hiding all this power? He is easily more powerful than myself, most Jounins even!"_ Iruka thought in shock. Another loud set of screams erupted from Mizuki as Naruto casually shattered every bone in both of Mizuki's arms. The silver haired chuunin passed out from the pain, but still very much alive. Once Naruto was done, he dusted off his hands and deactivated Bijuu mode. It had been awhile since he went for a spin in that form.

Naruto got up and walked passed Iruka and yawned.

"Iruka-sensei, it doesn't look like Mizuki-teme is going anywhere any time soon, I suggest you get that scroll back to Hokage-Jiji before he starts sending ANBU out all across the village." Naruto said before vanishing, leaving Iruka with the broken form of Mizuki and the Forbidden scroll of sealing.

"Yeah… yeah I should do that." Iruka said to himself, shaking his head out from the shock and promptly picking up the broken Mizuki and the large scroll, and headed back to the Hokage's office to report to the old man himself. He wanted answers on why Naruto was so powerful and capable of taking someone like Mizuki down without so much as a sweat.

Naruto truly was a puzzle with too many pieces missing.

* * *

Iruka arrived in the Hokage's office with Mizuki on his back along with the scroll of sealing. He was greeted by a room full of Jounin sensei and ANBU who had their eyes honed in on him when he entered the room. He saw Kakashi, Kurenai, Asuma, Anko even Yugao who was in full ANBU gear. As he walked in, he deposited Mizuki on the floor where ANBU took him to the hospital to be put into a certain ward were injured criminals were held. Asuma took one look at the broken body and felt like throwing up.

"Jeez what the hell happened to him? It looks like he got chewed up by some animal and spat right back out again." The younger Sarutobi murmured quietly. Iruka sighed as he walked up to the Hokage and bowed. Sandaime nodded and gestured for Iruka to step back and tell the story.

"Iruka-kun, why don't you tell us what happened." Sandaime suggest as he took another puff of his pipe as he hid his eyes under his hat, and watched the group carefully. He already knew what happened due to his crystal ball, and in all honesty it was rather amusing to watch. Naruto handled the situation rather well, although he could have been more… gentle. Mizuki was in a coma and they wouldn't be getting answers from him for a while.

"Hokage-sama, I would like to tell you but I am unsure of what I saw myself… may I ask you this, what do you know of Uzumaki Naruto's abilities?" Iruka asked. The other Jounin looked at Iruka with questionable looks, especially Kakashi.

"What does this have to do with my Genin Iruka-san?" Kakashi asked carefully. Iruka shifted uncomfortably, he was unsure how they were going to believe the story he was about to tell them.

"Well, the reason why includes Naruto is because Naruto was the one who put Mizuki in that condition." Iruka explained, the Jounins gasped as Kakashi's one visible eye widened, however before they could say anything, Iruka continued.

"Naruto physically broke Mizuki like a child playing with its toys, he did it so fast, I could barely keep track of his movements, and the even scarier part was, he didn't even look like he even tried to do it! It was like it was second nature to him, or like it was just any other day!" Iruka exclaimed. All the Jounins couldn't believe what they were hearing! A freshly Genin straight out of the academy crippled a fully trained chuunin like it was just any other day? Anko certainly wasn't buying it.

"You expect us to believe that this little Genin, took on a chuunin, not only did he defeat him, but did it in a matter of seconds without so much as a sweat? Sorry, but I'm calling bullshit, there is no way!" Anko scoffed. Iruka sighed.

"Believe me, that's not even the most unbelievable part of this story." Iruka muttered, but Anko heard him and just scowled in response to the scarred chuunin. Iruka audibly gulped as Anko glared at him. She was an Elite Jounin, ex-ANBU and profound I&T specialist. She was a scary and sadistic woman in every way. Not to mention she was the student of one of the Leafs biggest traitors in the village's history.

"Just what the hell are you talking about, you mean there's more shit that this kid did?" Anko said with disbelieving eyes, while Iruka just nodded as he looked directly back at the Hokage with steady eyes.

"I've been Naruto's sensei for four years now, ever since he started the academy, to when he just became Genin a day or two ago, and not once have I ever seen him act so… serious. He did something I never thought possible; when Mizuki told him about Kyuubi, my heart dropped, but Naruto laughed… he laughed! He already knew about Kyuubi!

"He even referred to the Kyuubi as Kurama, and that it was his friend! At first I couldn't believe what I was hearing, I thought it was some sort of ploy to scare Mizuki but then, Naruto changed… he transformed into this… golden light, it was like I was looking at the sun itself! His chakra felt different. It was like while he was in that form, both his and Kyuubi's chakra mixed and became one, it was a heavy dense chakra." Iruka explained as he looked around the room.

Every Jounin's eyes were intrigued in the story; they were all listening intently, taking in every full detail as if it was an A-Rank mission of the utmost importance. They didn't know whether to believe what the chuunin sensei was saying, or whether to pass it up as a ball faced lie!

They boy, no older than twelve, was in control of the Kyuubi no Yōkō's chakra? It was absurd in every sense of the meaning!

"Hokage-sama, I believe from what I saw, that Naruto, despite his age, I think he may have complete control over the Kyuubi's chakra and the Bijuu itself!" Iruka said. Anko refused to believe something so ridiculous and snapped.

"Alright, enough of this crap! There is no way in hell that this kid is capable of controlling a demon! Much less the Kyuubi no Yōkō! Listen to what you're saying; the Kyuubi almost destroyed the village! What the hell makes you think that this Uzumaki kid could control something as powerful as the Kyuubi?!" Anko accused, stepping up to Iruka's face with her arms crossed.

She had been in the middle of something and suddenly being called in by the Hokage by an order of emergency to a high level degree, she wasn't exactly thrilled to be there so to say.

The other Jounin were quiet, they had heard some strange things in their shinobi career's but they had to agree with Anko on this one, there was just no way that Naruto could possibly-

"Iruka-kun is telling the truth." All eyes turned to Sarutobi Hiruzen as he sat in his chair, taking another puff from his pipe, momentarily lighting up his eyes that were hidden under the Hokage hat. Kakashi paled heavily at the Hokage's words.

Naruto was on his Genin squad, if what Iruka said was true and that Naruto really could use the Biju's power and keep it under control then he would really have to be careful tomorrow or Naruto might actually kill him tomorrow if he's not careful.

Kakashi stepped forward, wanting to confirm just how powerful and skilled Naruto was.

"Hokage-sama, you seem to know quite a lot about Naruto, can you tell me what his skills clearly are because what the academy reports say he is. They state that he is under skilled, an idiot with no talent and no sense that a shinobi should have." Kakashi asked politely. The old Hokage sighed as he tilted his hat slightly with his hands.

"Hatake Kakashi and the rest of you, what I am about to say is considered an S-Class secret and will be punishable by death if it should be revealed. The only person who can reveal this information is either myself, or Naruto-kun if he sees fit. Am I understood?"

"Hai!" They all said in unison. The Hokage nodded and began the tale of Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto that started four years ago, on the very night of his eighth birthday. The Hokage went on to tell them that the very night that Naruto was chased into the Forest of Death, was the very same night that Naruto met the Kyuubi.

He went on to tell them how on that very same night that Naruto befriended Kyuubi and in a result of this, opened up a link between them that loop holed the seal, allowing Kyuubi and Naruto to share their Chakra between each other. Hiruzen also told them not to worry as he had personally spoken to Kyuubi the day after the event happened and told the old man that he would be guiding Naruto. The old man had been watching the blonde since that few days, with even more caution.

The fox had tried nothing to take advantage of Naruto.

He told them about Naruto's advanced Chakra training at eight which confirmed something that bugged Iruka for a very long time. When everyone else was starting out with leaf controlling exercises, Naruto seemed to get it instantly and performed it to perfection.

The Hokage revealed that Kyuubi had told Naruto about his heritage that he was the son of their late Yondaime Hokage and also the son of their late Uzumaki Kushina, the Red hot blooded Habanero. This was no surprise as most of the other Jounins had wondered where Naruto got his vicious sadistic pranking attitude, and to find that Kushina of all people was his mother was no less surprising, they just wondered why they didn't see it sooner.

Kakashi was the only one who knew of Naruto's heritage since he was personally assigned by Minato to keep Kushina safe while she was pregnant with Naruto when he was ANBU.

Hiruzen also stated that Naruto had become a Seal master, on par with his father and his own student Jiraiya because of a jutsu he gave him called _Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_, and that Naruto had undergone a heavily risky training that he managed to complete without permanent damage to his well-being.

He explained to them that Naruto had an unusual large chakra capacity and that he could create hundreds if not thousands of Kage Bunshin and only felt a bit tired afterwards and that was why he was the only one to be able to complete training so risky and dangerous.

He explained that with the use of Kage Bunshin, Naruto studied fūinjutsu for a straight three years with the use of Kage Bunshin, and what he told them next shocked them to the very core, especially Kakashi.

The old Hokage told them that with this intensive training, Naruto could possibly have almost thirteen years' worth of knowledge and skill in fūinjutsu, and was undoubtedly the most experienced fūinjutsu user in the village aside from himself and Jiraiya when he wasn't around. That's four thousand, seven hundred and forty eight days that he has studied, tested and used fūinjutsu.

The old man didn't utter a word that Naruto knew how to use _Hiraishin no Jutsu_ because he had promised Naruto that he wouldn't tell anyone, so it was a secret that only Naruto would give out if he deemed necessary.

Needless to say, the Hokage dropped a bomb shell on the Jounins. They potentially had a miniature Yondaime running around the village as a Genin. So there was only a few questions at the end once Sarutobi had finished his explanation, an Anko was the first person to question this issue.

"If that's that case then why the hell is this kid a Genin in the first place? He should be elite ANBU or some shit like that! Why the fuck is this kid in a Genin cell when he's already years more advanced than most of our competent Jounin!?" Anko practically screamed. The profound God of Shinobi sighed.

"The reason that I chose to put Naruto-kun in a Genin team is because that he needs to learn to work as a team. He may be an fūinjutsu master, he may also have the full power of the Kyuubi no Yōkō backing him, but if I were to put him straight into the role of a Jounin or ANBU, he would no doubt cause mistakes and lead to a mission failure. By putting him in a Genin cell, he will learn the values of teamwork and cooperation, plus I had it planned that once he passed the Chuunin exams in due time, I would think about promote him straight to Jounin Elite." Sarutobi said with a puff of his pipe.

The other Jounin's seemed to agree with this; however Kakashi came up to bring up another problem with this picture.

"Okay, I agree that Naruto is perhaps around even our level at the moment in some areas, but that resides the fact that the teams are now unfair and quite unbalanced… I have both the Uchiha Prodigy, rookie of the year and a Jounin level Genin on my team, I'm sure that even I can speak for the rest of us that its quite unfair." Kakashi pointed out. He wasn't trying to get Naruto removed from his team, not by any means. He would gladly take his Sensei's son over Sasuke, but this left the issue of his team make up. The team he currently had looked like, and had the potential to be possibly another Sannin team in the making, with Naruto as the leader.

Sarutobi raised his eyebrows at this, he didn't exactly know how to respond to the point Kakashi was making, and to be honest the silver haired Jounin brought up a good point, his team was now unbalanced, maybe a different position would suffice for Naruto, but what?

"What are you suggesting Kakashi-san? Are you saying that Naruto should be moved out his current team and into another?" Hiruzen asked with a raised eyebrow. Kakashi simply sighed, the silver haired scarecrow wasn't sure what to say, but two powerhouses on one team weren't fair to the other Jounin sensei. If his team came up against his team as they currently were, they would get flattened! Especially that now it was obvious that the _real_ Naruto had come out of hiding.

"I'm not sure Hokage-sama; I'm just pointing out the fact that my team is unbalanced with both the Uchiha and Naruto on it." Kakashi said. All the Jounins were silent. Their teams were already full and were quite happy with what they were given. Plus they had done all their introductions already and to start making Genin changes would cause disruption to their teams. After a few minutes of thinking, Hiruzen came up with a solution.

"How about this… Naruto is given the title "Elite Genin" and remains in Team Seven. However he will not only train with team seven, he will train with all the teams that pass the Genin test tomorrow. If Team Seven fails to pass tomorrow, then what I'm saying is null and void. Sounds fair?" Sarutobi looked around the room for confirmation and agreement. Some of the Jounins shook their head while Asuma and Kurenai put their hands to their chins in deep thought.

For Kurenai it sounded like a double-edged sword idea. "_On one hand, I've noticed that Hinata's confidence takes a large leap forward with Naruto around. If he trains with our team then Hinata will become stronger and show her bastard father that she actually is strong. On the other hand, Kiba doesn't exactly approve of the idea that is Naruto and will consistently try to prove that he is the better… Shino won't care either way."_ Kurenai thought. Meanwhile Asuma thought about his own situation and what impact Naruto would have on his team if the blonde were to train with his team.

"_Hmm, Naruto does have a good effect on Shikamaru, I noticed that when Naruto's around Shikamaru, he does seem to lighten up and actually try harder than his lazy ass normally would. Ino on the other hand would be a handful; she disapproves of Naruto and constantly goes on about how 'Her Sasuke-kun' cannot be defeated and is unrivaled. Ch__ō__ji won't care, he's a nice kid." _Asuma thought. In the end both Jounins thought it would be best if Naruto trained with them and gave their approval of the idea.

Sarutobi smiled.

"Alright, it is settled then! Naruto will train with both teams Seven, Eight and Ten starting after tomorrows Genin tests… that's assuming they pass." Hiruzen said with a hearty chuckle before his gaze turned deadly.

"Now dismissed, I have a lot of paperwork piling up because of this Mizuki incident and I do not want to spend the rest of the night here at a desk!" The Jounins all audibly gulped loudly before using Shunshin to escape. On his way home, Kakashi couldn't help but think about how Naruto had gotten so strong with anyone knowing.

"_Naruto… you have grown up in a strange way. Sensei, you would be proud of your son, and I don't care how strong Naruto has become, it doesn't matter if he's stronger than a Kage, I will die to protect him if the situation calls for it. It's the least I can do to honour your memory… sensei."_ Kakashi thought before he turned in for the night, with a tinge of excitement about tomorrow, he would actually get to see Naruto's abilities for himself… hell, he wondered if he would have to use the Sharingan.

* * *

Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto awoke with a start as his fūinjutsu alarm sent a current of electricity through his body. He sat up cursing, thinking he would have to find another way to wake himself up since he kept breaking his alarm clocks. He experimented with fūinjutsu a lot, it was a great way to pass the time, so this _Raiton_ alarm was a good test, but Naruto deemed it a failure as it hurt a little too much… maybe he would try a Fūton fūinjutsu alarm next time.

Naruto got up and quickly got dressed, putting on his new attire with his favorite white trench coat with black flames that outlined the edges. He made his way to the kitchen and made himself a healthy breakfast to start the day. He knew it was early, and he knew his sensei was going to be three hours late, but he might as well _try_ and bond with his new team members since they were his teammates now and there is nothing worse than a team that cannot get along.

Naruto got all the things that he needed, kunai, shuriken, scrolls, seals, a brush for making seals, and his four Hiraishin kunai that he took with him everywhere. It wasn't that he trusted the safety of his home with the amount of security seals he put up around it, it was the fact that a shinobi that was trained in the pure art of infiltration could possibly slip through his defenses, anyone from perhaps ROOT might have a chance and he didn't want Danzo getting his slimy hands on his fathers famed kunai.

Yes, Naruto knows of Danzo and his loyal sheep followers that were known as ROOT. Naruto had encountered a few in his past years as he was training with Kurama. Obviously Danzo had recognized the excessive use of Kurama's chakra and wanted Naruto in his little group of mindless drones. So Naruto decided to pay ROOT headquarters a visit. With enough snooping around he managed to find it, infiltrate it and gather all the information he wanted.

It just proved how much of a corrupted bastard Danzo was.

"_Yeah right… 'Does anything for Konoha' my ass! That old bastard just wants to take the Hokage seat away from Jiji!"_ Naruto thought at the time. All Danzo wanted was the Hokage seat and the position of power so he could turn Konoha into a military infested superpower that could wage war whenever he wanted. Train simple minded academy students to be lethal killers with the skill of Jounins and Jounins with the skill of a Kage, it was disgusting and downright wrong.

Naruto quickly sealed his apartment up before leaving for training ground seven where he would be spending the next three hours waiting for his sensei to arrive. On his way there, he couldn't help but reflect on the past years. It all came down to the fact that if he hadn't met Kurama in the forest of death that night, he shuddered to think what kind of things would be different.

Arriving at the training ground, Sakura and Sasuke where already there waiting for their sensei. Sakura was sitting on the ground holding her stomach; it was obvious she was hungry and had heeded Kakashi's _suggestion_ about not eating breakfast; same went with Sasuke as his stomach growled a few seconds after.

"Ohayō Sakura, Sasuke." Naruto said as he dropped down next to the two Genin level shinobi in training. Sasuke scoffed and turned away making Naruto sweat drop and sigh at the same time. Sakura seemed to have a mixture of a smile and annoyance but settled with a greeting.

"Hi Naruto." She said before turning away to look at Sasuke. Naruto lay down in a spot where the three formed a triangle. It was a rather warm morning and no doubt they were going to be waiting for a while so he decided to get comfortable. After a few minutes the silence was ruined by the one person who was making the silence so unbearable.

"Hey, dobe… why did you add Namikaze to your name yesterday when we were introducing ourselves to Kakashi-sensei?" Sasuke questioned. Sakura also decided to listen in because she too had also been thinking about it as well. She wasn't a book smart ninja for nothing, and who didn't know of the Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato? I was common knowledge, the man was practically a hero in the villagers eyes!

"I added it because it's part of my name. I am the son of Uzumaki Kushina from Whirlpool country, and Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime Hokage and famed Yellow Flash of Konoha. When Hokage-Jiji confirmed it for me, I planned to honor both their memories and surpass both of them." Naruto explained causally. Sasuke scoffed.

'Dream all you want dobe, you are not related to the Yondaime, someone of your skill couldn't possibility be related to a genius like him. You're untalented, stupid, and loud mouthed and annoying. How you managed to get that Hitai-ate is still a mystery to me." Sasuke said arrogantly. Naruto sat up and glared at Sasuke with hateful eyes. All ideas of getting along with his team, more intently Sasuke had flown out the window in the space of a second.

"Hey, Sasuke-kun that was a little uncalled for… I seen pictures of Yondaime and I have to admit that Naruto does bare some similar traits to him. It's not entirely impossible, I mean he did die on the night Naruto was born so he could-" She was cut off as Sasuke slapped her across the face sending her to the ground. Naruto was wide eyed, what had pissed him off so much to practically assault Sakura like he had just done?

"Siding with the dobe? I thought you believed in what I said. Look at him, he's a baka. He can't possibility be related to someone like him! I thought you were smart, you're so worthless." Sasuke spat. Naruto growled as he stepped in front of her protectively.

"Oi, Teme… if you want to lose your hand then try that again, and I'll make sure you never have the chance to kill Itachi." Naruto said aggressively. He didn't hate Sakura; in fact he had watched her for a few hours for the past two days to see what she was like. Ever since he had stopped calling her Sakura-chan and got rid of his dobe-mask, she had begun to become a little more self-conscious and a little wary.

At the mention of Itachi's name, Sasuke took out a kunai and flung it at Naruto who caught it effortlessly only mere inches from his forehead. Naruto's eyes never even wavered as he glared hatefully at Sasuke, the past comment about his comparison to him and his father not leaving his mind.

"This could be considered as an act of treason Sasuke… I now have a reason to execute you on the spot for attempting to kill and or harm and fellow Konoha shinobi." Naruto stated impassively. Sakura's eyes widened along with Sasuke's. Sasuke growled before his worry turned into an arrogant smirk.

"As if you could harm me, I'm a talent shinobi, born with skill and unrivaled power.' Sasuke said with a smirk. Naruto rolled his eyes at Sasuke, there was almost no hope for this raven haired kid, he was so caught up in his own superiority complex and self-righteous path to power that he can't even see the truth when its stuck right in front of his face. Naruto decided not to respond, he didn't want to stoop to Sasuke's level. However, the Uchiha took this as a sign of weakness by the blonde.

"Figures, nothing to say I see? I should have known you were the dobe, you have no future as a shinobi." Sasuke scoffed before going back to leaning on the tree and brooding. Naruto sighed as all of Sasuke's word rolled harmlessly over his head. Words could only do so much and Naruto had heard much worse from the villagers and that had still not bothered him so much.

Naruto turned around and offered a hand to Sakura to took it with a smile, she got up and rubbed her red cheek. Her eyes were only slightly red and puffy from the abuse Sasuke had delivered to her. She had been chasing Sasuke for quite a while now, and ever since Naruto had changed on the day of the Genin exam, she only then just started to see how Sasuke truly was. Although she still liked the boy, crushes don't go away so easily, even after small heart breaks like the one which had happened when he had slapped her.

"You okay?" Naruto asked with a serious face, she nodded. She hadn't had the best of mornings. She had been abused verbally at home by her drunken father and now she had been physically abused by the very same Sasuke she thought had a heart underneath all that brooding. Her morality had dropped a great deal now.

"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks Naruto…" She said looking away from the blonde. Naruto noticed this and questioned it.

"What's wrong?" He asked narrowing his eyes, she refused to meet his. To her this was different than all those other times. Naruto normally asked her out with a stupid goofy smile and she would brush him off for being the dobe, and being generally stupid, but right now, he was serious, the look in his eyes when she did glance for a second screamed intelligence.

He generally cared about her well-being. She looked like she was about to break into tears.

"I'm sorry." She said simply. Naruto raised an eyebrow at this.

"What do you mean you're sorry?" Naruto asked generally confused at her sudden change. Her head hung low.

"I'm sorry for all those times… when I was mean and abusive towards you. You didn't deserve it, all your were trying to be was nice and I was so caught up in being with Sasuke, I mean I still like him, but he's… I don't know! Ever since the Genin exam you've been so… different! I don't understand what could have caused such a change; you went from being the stupid, loud mouth baka to being… well what you are now! Your calm, your serious, you're not loud and your actually intelligent! What the hell happened to you Naruto?" She asked, almost in tears. All of her words had come out so fast he didn't know what to make of it.

It was only yesterday that she was still head over heels for Sasuke… what the hell happened to her? Forget that, what the hell happened to her to change her attitude towards Sasuke?

Naruto sighed, he knew he was going to have to explain this to a lot of people, and he'd be dammed if he would even bother telling Sasuke now, the kid was a disaster waiting to happen.

"I'll tell you later, but first we need to pass this test that Kakashi-sensei is going to give us." Naruto said as they both sat down a few meters away from Sasuke, allowing him to brood more over his constant hatred for his goal to kill Itachi. Honestly, the rate he was going, he was not going to get close to killing someone like Itachi.

As time passed, Naruto actually did decide to tell Sakura about his _dobe mask_ and how he had to act like that to keep everyone off his back while he practiced behind everyone's backs. Sakura had a hard time believing he could accomplish so much so fast, that was until he told her how he did, with Kage Bunshin and what exactly the technique did for you.

With that he explained what the effects of that Jutsu were and what it did for you. She was dumbfounded as she thought of multiple things she could do with a Jutsu like that, however that day dream was ruined when Naruto told her that it could only be performed with large chakra reserves that only he had. Out of old habit, Sakura felt the need to punch Naruto but resisted as she was actually starting to like this new Naruto a lot more than the old one.

"So the rumors were true? You were really learning fūinjutsu? That's supposed to be the hardest and most complicated to learn, sugoi!" She whispered so Sasuke couldn't hear them. Naruto smiled and scratched the back of his head with a light blush on his face at the praise.

"Na, it's not that amazing. I really needed it to lighten up my life style a bit. My apartment was a dump before I knew fūinjutsu, I could teach you if want. The more you know the better right?" Naruto suggested. Sakura nodded with a smile. Her day was now officially a lot better. Naruto wasn't an idiot like she thought, he was actually a smart, nice guy, unlike Sasuke… but she still had a crush on the dark haired emo and she vowed to get rid of it.

It wasn't long before the same silver haired cyclops puffed into existence a few meters away from the group. Kakashi stared at the group's current positioning. Sasuke was leaning against a tree while Naruto and Sakura sat a way away from him. Kakashi raised a small eyebrow at this.

"_That's strange… by the way Sakura was talking about Sasuke yesterday I didn't think she would be sitting so far away from him, I was more or less expecting her to be all up and yelling about her love for 'Her Sasuke-kun' like she showed yesterday with how she acted. She almost looks like she wants to put a distance between herself and Sasuke. Maybe she might not be the fan-girl I made her out to be."_ Kakashi pondered for a few seconds before shrugging.

"Alright my little Genin rookies! Gather round and we will begin today's test." Kakashi said as all three Genin approached him. He looked at each single one individually just to try and make out their body language to see how they were taking this. Sometimes you could tell how good someone was just by their body language, but then again, if manipulated properly can be the ultimate deceitful weapon.

Sasuke looked bored, but twitching with excitement, obviously because he wanted to show off how good he was. Naruto looked confident which was what Kakashi expected due to the conclusion of the previous night's meeting with the Hokage. If anything, if he wasn't careful, Naruto might actually kill him. Sakura was looking nervous which was obviously expected.

Kakashi brought out two bells from his pouch and dangled them in front of the three Genin as he watched their puzzled expressions with amusement. Kakashi eye smiled at the three.

"First two to get these two bells pass the test, the other one gets send back to the Academy and repeats the year again, the other two get to stay in my team and become my subordinates. Simple, get these two bells, you get to stay, oh and if you don't get the bells by twelve p.m. then you all fail and return to the academy. All force is accepted, use whatever jutsu, ploys, deceptive needs you can use to get the bells… GO!" Kakashi said before they all vanished into the tree lines, completely out of sight.

"_At least they know decent stealth, but I can still sense Sasuke's chakra signature… no doubt Naruto has concealed his own… I heard Sakura has near perfect Chakra control so she should have hers concealed… not exactly impressed Sasuke." _Kakashi mused as he pulled out an orange book from his shinobi pouch.

Meanwhile, as Kakashi kept his guard up by standing completely still and reading some orange book that he had in his pouch, all three Genin were watching his every move closely. Naruto and Sakura were hiding together; the blonde was trying to calm Sakura down because she was panicking at the test.

"Sakura calm down! Don't buy what he said for a second, there's no such thing as a two man Genin cell! It's a deceptive means of making us all fight for it among-st ourselves, I'm willing to bet that this is a test of how well we can work together as a team to take down the enemy." Naruto whispered trying to calm Sakura down. It did the trick as she took a deep breath and exhaled.

"Okay, that seems more reasonable, but what about Sasuke? How can we pass this without him? If the objective is to work together as a team, then we have to have him in on our, well, as of now undeveloped plan to get the bells." Sakura said. Naruto hummed a little as he thought about the person Sasuke was.

"I have no doubt in my mind that he's already got it in his head that he has to do this all on his own and he won't be accepting any help from us whatsoever. It can't hurt to try though; otherwise we all fail this test." Naruto said before taking Sakura's hand and vanishing to find Sasuke.

Naruto and Sakura appeared next to Sasuke in a flash who had flung a kunai in their direction causing Naruto to drop his head suddenly to avoid the airborne kunai that hit the tree behind the blonde. Naruto growled as he glared at Sasuke's slightly disappointed face.

"Hey, it's just us teme! What the hell was that for?" Naruto seethed as Sasuke smirked and looked back at Kakashi who was still standing in an opening reading his little perverted orange book.

"I knew it was you, I was just hoping you wouldn't have the decency to duck, but I guess I'm not as lucky as you are dobe." Sasuke mocked causing Naruto to sigh and Sakura to scowl. She hadn't noticed it before but now she realized that Sasuke really had it out for Naruto, and for no obvious reason than to taunt the blonde and make fun of him. Although she had done it to in the past, at least she apologized for it and would make up for it from now on.

"Look teme, the point of this test is to work together as a team; do you really think that a single Genin could take on a Jounin of Kakashi-sensei's caliber? Are you insane? You'll get squashed!" Naruto exclaimed causing Sasuke to growl.

"Don't underestimate my skill dobe; I have been through the most intense training that for someone our age can even handle. If anyone can stand up to him, it will be me and I will get those bells and pass this test and I don't need you or Sakura to help." Sasuke said with a smirk before jumping away. Both Sakura and Naruto sighed in frustration.

Sakura was about to shout for Sasuke to come back and be reasonable but Naruto put an arm in front of her chest, stopping her. She was about to protest but Naruto pointed at Kakashi.

"Don't worry Sakura; I put up some voice enhancing seals around the tree line. Kakashi-sensei heard every word of what Sasuke just said. At least we tried." Naruto said looking at Kakashi's posture. He could tell that the silver haired Jounin was internally shaking his head in disappointment at Sasuke's actions, so far he was not impressed, but he was impressed that Naruto and Sakura had both figured out the meaning of the test.

Naruto quickly disabled the seals and crouched next to Sakura in the tree line as they gazed at Kakashi under the cover of the shadows. Naruto hummed in thought as he tried to come up with a plan. He would work with Sakura, and they only had an hour left of the test before they failed and were sent back to the academy.

He noticed that Sasuke had already begun to attack Kakashi with all he had. Naruto didn't bother to help him, nor did Sakura. They were going to come up with their own plan. Naruto also didn't want to use Bijuu mode or use Hiraishin unless he absolutely had to, he would rather Sasuke didn't see those otherwise he would demand to be taught them too, under the order of the Uchiha. And after today's events, the last thing he wanted was Sasuke consistently bugging him about his power.

Twenty minutes later, thirty Naruto's burst from the tree line, heading straight to Kakashi who had long since dealt with Sasuke who was now unconscious with only a head sticking out of the ground. Naruto began the assault on the silver haired Jounin who was quick to respond by punching out a few of the clones. Some of the clones threw kunai, and others threw Shuriken, others went straight for a Taijutsu battle.

A few seconds later, while he was dealing with the oncoming Naruto clones that consistently engaged him in a Taijutsu spar and threw weapons at him, he felt a foreign chakra attempting to enter his system. He smiled under his mask as he turned to where it was coming from, dodging all of Naruto's attempts to hit him at the same time.

"_Naruto's the distraction while Sakura works on a Genjutsu… very nicely put together, but not good enough!"_ Kakashi thought as he flung an amazingly accurate kunai in the direction where the Genjutsu was coming from.

The kunai flew into a nearby bush where Sakura was thrown out of the back of the bush with a kunai lodged in her chest. Kakashi hummed to himself as he thought he might have to heal that later, but his eyes widened as that 'Sakura' popped out of existence with a puff of smoke.

"_A Kage Bunshin hedged into Sakura?! But Naruto can't do Genjutsu… could he?" _Kakashi thought as he still felt the foreign chakra invading his system, but he couldn't find it! That was until he realized he was already under a pre-placed Genjutsu by fūinjutsu, credit to Naruto. Kakashi made a hand seal before yelling.

"Kai!" Kakashi yelled, dispelling the Illusion. The hidden seal on his left elbow shimmered out of existence as Naruto cursed slightly while Kakashi eye smiled.

"Nice try Naruto, but my Sensei was a seal master like you! I know all the tricks, but nice try; I have to give you that much credit, a chakra sensor disrupting seal. It places an fūinjutsu Genjutsu under the opponent, messing and inverting his sense of chakra detection. That's a high level seal; I don't even think I can do that in the middle of combat." Kakashi said with an eye smile and a hint of pride. Naruto grinned as well.

"Well don't count us out just yet, I still have a few aces in the holes left, and you still have no idea where Sakura is." Naruto pointed out. Kakashi shrugged, knowing that Naruto wasn't even taking this test seriously, but someone at his level doesn't have to, which is why Kakashi had put the book away and got serious as soon as Naruto appeared with his clones from the treeline.

"Yeah, I know about you, and you make a good point, I don't know where Sakura is at all, but I also know that with her chakra reserves, that Genjutsu she tried to cast was around B or C-rank by the way she was pushing all that chakra into my system, no doubt she's exhausted by that attempt… and you have five more minutes left to get the bells, otherwise you all fail." Kakashi said as Naruto narrowed his eyes and quickly engaged the silver haired Jounin in a Taijutsu spar. It was a few seconds later that Naruto heard something that forced him to retreat.

"_Katon: G__ōkakyū__ no Jutsu!"_ a familiar voice sounded from their left said, loud enough for the two to retreat from the spot where the large fire storm hit. Naruto turned sharply to see that Sasuke had dug himself out of the ground and had intentionally tried to burn both Kakashi and Naruto alive. Kakashi frowned at the Uchiha's actions while Naruto seethed at the fool.

"Oi, Sasuke-teme! What the hell was that for!? Are you trying to burn me and Kakashi-sensei alive?" Naruto said with a vicious snarl, his eyes going blood red before Kurama told him to calm down before he lost control over his emotions. Naruto took a breath before his eyes returned to normal as he glared at Sasuke. Sasuke smirked slightly.

"Maybe, but I don't care if I kill a dobe like you, the world has enough of people like you in the first place, perhaps I would be doing the world a favor by killing you." Sasuke chuckled, getting on the blondes nerves. Before Naruto could reply, Kakashi was busy spitting tacks at Sasuke's words. Never before had he heard someone so arrogant and disgusting in all of his life, Obito would be turning in his very grave if he had heard Sasuke say something so foul!

"Sasuke, your way out of line, he's your comrade and you're supposed to help him, not try to kill him." Kakashi said, barely able to keep in his anger. Sasuke scoffed before charging at Kakashi blindly.

"He was the perfect distraction for you, I could have taken you out and he could have bravely sacrificed his pathetic life to-" Sasuke yelled before he was cut off by a chop to his neck, credit to Kakashi and frowned on Sasuke and shook his head in disappointment.

"You're supposed to be rookie of the year… if anything, the real genius here is Naruto, and you're the dead last. You haven't even figured out the point of this test…" Kakashi said before turning to Naruto and then turning to the clock, his eyes widening slightly.

"Fifteen seconds left of the test, Naruto… what are you going to do?" Kakashi said with an eye smile. Naruto was out of options, he was going to use _that_ jutsu to get it done in a _flash_. Just at that moment, Sakura came running out of the trees, and stood in an academy Taijutsu stance next to Naruto.

She was panting hard; it was obvious she had fallen out of the tree she was crouched in because she used so much chakra, trying to put Kakashi under the Genjutsu she had tried but failed miserably at. Before she could say anything Naruto couched low, getting ready for one final attack.

"Get ready Kakashi-sensei, Sakura, don't blink… or you will miss it." Naruto grinned.

_Three seconds._

Naruto, in an instant, reached into his trench coat, and pulled out two of the four Hiraishin Kunai and flung them at either side of Kakashi. The silver haired scarecrow's eyes widened as he saw the special kunai heading straight to his sides. He tried to move out of the way but they were already flying past him. Naruto had dropped another one right next to Sakura.

_Two seconds._

Naruto flashed to Kakashi's left side in an instant, bringing his right leg up and nailing the Jounin in the stomach, causing the Jounin to double over at the slight chakra infused kick. Naruto then gave a strong punch to Kakashi's forehead, causing him to go airborne. The silver haired cyclops was so stunned to even move and react to such an attack.

Naruto vanished from that side and appeared on his other side, the kunai were still airborne at both Kakashi's sides. Naruto appeared on Kakashi's right, snatched the bells and vanished once more.

_One second._

Naruto appeared by one of the Hiraishin Kunai's he had dropped right next to Sakura before she even knew of what had transpired. He stood next to Sakura as the bell rang for the end of the test as Naruto stood proudly as held the two bells in his hand. Kakashi crashed into the ground. His one visible eye full of shock at the Jutsu Naruto had just used.

Kakashi just lay there, not even moving a muscle as a million things ran through his mind at light speed. He was unharmed, Naruto hadn't tried to kill him, but more or less incapacitate him so he could grab the bells, but it all happened so fast, and he didn't even have a second to react!

"_He knows **that** Jutsu! He knows s-sensei's famed jutsu! He actually used it on me! I can't believe it! He's only twelve and he knows the Hiraishin no Jutsu!"_ Kakashi thought in absolute disbelief. Kakashi now knew that Naruto wore that trench coat for good reason; it was no joke at all.

Naruto was Konoha's Next Flash.

Sakura turned to Naruto wide widened eyes of shock and amazement. She couldn't believe what she had just seen! One second he was here, next he was beating the crap out of Kakashi-sensei; next he was standing right back next to her like nothing happened, with the two bells in his right hand. Naruto sighed heavily as he handed Sakura one of the bells.

"I really didn't want to have to use that jutsu if I didn't have to, but I really had no time to think and not even Kurama's chakra can make me that fast… sorry Kakashi-sensei but it was my only available option." Naruto said casually as he walked up to Kakashi and offered him a hand. Kakashi hesitantly took it and hoisted himself up as he rubbed his stomach with one hand and held his aching head with the other.

"I have to say Naruto, I'm… just… stunned that you can perform that Jutsu… not even Jiraiya-sama could crack the seal Yondaime made on his special kunai… how did you do it!?" Kakashi asked in amazement.

"Aw come on Kakashi-sensei, you don't think my father would let just anyone use his famed jutsu would you? I don't think he even wanted his teacher to use it, because one of the first security seals I encountered were blood seals and that required his own blood, or the blood of his child. That's probably why Jiraiya-sama couldn't use it… if there were no blood seals put into it as a security measure, he could probably use it." Naruto explained. Kakashi nodded, his head still buzzing by the fact that one of his students pretty much is the Yondaime reincarnated.

"I see… so, what are you going to do with that bell? I saw you gave one to Sakura, but what about Sasuke?" Kakashi said grudgingly. He wanted Sakura and Naruto to pass, but after Sasuke's actions today, he wasn't sure if he wanted someone like that on his team. Naruto sighed as he went to pick up his Hiraishin kunai's that had impacted and stuck the tree behind Kakashi.

"Both Sakura and I know that this exercise meant teamwork, which meant that all of us had to work together. If I had not known how to use Hiraishin, then no doubt we would have failed, so in all honesty, we actually failed this test, because if we were regular Genin with Genin skills we would have failed easily." Naruto said sullenly while Kakashi nodded at Naruto's honesty.

"Out in the field, Sasuke's actions would have gotten us all killed. If you were truly out to kill us, you would have picked us off one by one, easily… however if we worked as a team, the enemy might have had a harder time, and quite possibly we might have won…" Kakashi nodded again as he continued to listen to Naruto's explanation.

"So I guess… if we did manage to get per say 'Bells' which represents something like information that needed to get back to the Hokage critically, in which said 'Bell' is important information on the enemy, I guess I would give the bell to Sasuke and let both he and Sakura escape while I hold off the enemy, effectively sacrificing myself for my comrades." Naruto said as he tossed the remaining bell at an unconscious Sasuke whose face was still full of dirt. The bell landed with a clang next to Sasuke's body. Kakashi smiled at Naruto, he was really the true genius in this group.

"Well done Naruto, it seems that all of you have passed! Although this isn't quite what I had expected but you certainly managed to do it in the end! The three… well, you and Sakura managed to come up with a plan and effectively protected Sasuke and you managed to get the bells in time. I guess that makes us Team Seven then." Kakashi said with a smile.

Naruto grinned and gave the thumbs up while Sakura smiled weakly. Sasuke was still unconscious but was seething.

"Thanks Kakashi-sensei, I look forward to training under you and doing missions together!" Naruto said as he turned to head back to his home, wanting to get more time in on cracking the seal on his stomach. He was just about to take off home until Kakashi called out to him.

"Hey, Naruto can I talk to you for a second in private… it's something about a _special_ position that you get since your abilities are much more than an average Genin." Kakashi said. Naruto blinked before agreeing to it. Naruto walked over to Kakashi as the two exchanged words. Sakura listened in from the side lines.

Naruto's eyes widened when Kakashi explained just what predicament he was in.

"Nani?! You mean that Hokage-Jiji gave me the title 'Elite Genin'? Wow, I'm not really sure how to respond to that… I know for a fact that Sasuke-teme will blow up at this so I suggest we keep this quiet for as long as we possibly can." Naruto said scratching his head, thinking about how much less time he would have working with all the other teams. Man, it would be as Shikamaru would say… how troublesome.

"Ma, ma Naruto… your much to modest! You have been working most your life, training yourself to be the best! If anything you actually deserve the title, even some of the Jounins were questioning why you were even Genin in the first place." Kakashi said with an eye smile as he ruffled Naruto's hair. The boy may be a powerful genius with full power of a Bijuu, but he was still twelve years old, which gave Kakashi permission to tease him, even if he could perhaps beat him to a pulp.

"Yeah, yeah whatever, if any of you need me I'll be at my apartment doing… _stuff._ See yea Sakura, Kakashi-sensei." Naruto said before turning to the still unconscious form of the arrogant Uchiha. "Later _Sasuke-Baka_." Naruto said before making a seal and disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Sakura sighed as she looked over to the form that was Sasuke. She wanted to help him, she wanted to go out with him, hoping that there was a nice side to the raven haired Uchiha, but after today, she just didn't want any of it.

"I'll see you tomorrow Kakashi-sensei, take care." Sakura said before running off back to her home. Kakashi sighed as he looked over to Sasuke who was now only just waking up from the chop to the neck the silver haired Jounin gave him. Sasuke shot to his legs and straight into a Taijutsu stance. His eyes narrowed as Kakashi pointed to his feet. Sasuke looked towards his feet and saw a bell. In a hurry he picked it up and smirked.

"_Yeah, I must have got him with the last Jutsu I fired off, the string keeping the bell on Kakashi must have brunt and fallen off just before he knocked me out! Yeah, I guess I did win in the end… I have the bell. I am the best, yeah, you just wait Itachi, and I'm on my way to kill you!"_ Sasuke thought before turning and speeding off back home to train more.

* * *

Three weeks passed as the newly formed Team Seven had well and truly started their D-ranked missions. Naruto was forbidden to use Kage Bunshin because Kakashi said that doing D-ranked missions where missions to increase morality and teamwork skills. Naruto fought with his Sensei about that because all it did was make their boring missions longer, and the longer they had to listen to Sasuke's Uchiha superiority speeches were really starting to piss his teammates off, even Sakura was getting annoyed.

Kurenai and Asumas' teams had all passed equally as well, although they didn't have a stuck up Uchiha who thought he was better than everyone else. The two Jounin sensei's requested that Naruto train with them immediately, but Naruto had asked if they could wait off for a while to allow Naruto to get his feet wet with his own team first. They were understanding his position and trusting that Naruto would sooner or later come and train with their teams.

Naruto was also getting closer with Sakura. After his display of sheer power and control, she put aside her pride and went to Naruto to ask if he could teach her some things to make herself not so useless in battle. Naruto put her on Chakra controlling exercises, and put her straight to tree climbing.

She was confused when she did it perfectly but Naruto told her to keep doing it. Soon she found out why he wanted her to keep doing it. It was to increase her reserves, that way she wouldn't run out of Chakra so fast. She trained under Naruto in secret, not wanting anyone like Ino to make fun of her or anything like that.

Team seven was on a rocky start when it came to teamwork exercises, Sasuke was uncooperative which made Sakura and Naruto very frustrated and made Kakashi just sigh at the boy's childishness. It was embarrassing to see the _almighty_ Uchiha act like a five year old. Naruto kept quiet, making sure not to tick Sasuke off as he really didn't want to be bothered with another one of his tantrums.

* * *

One night, it was nearing close to two a.m. in the morning and Naruto still had his lights on as he was hard at work with creating the makeshift key to his seal. He also had two other clones attempting to make more Hiraishin kunai, but manipulating space time jutsu, along with blood seals and reverse summoning seals with the right amount of chakra was no easy task.

It was raining outside, and Naruto had a few candles lit for make shift lights. The rain and the glow of the candles seemed to give him a sense of calmness and relaxation. It sort of put his mind at ease as he worked. His nights were often like this. He would break down his seal on his stomach in a draft copy, make diagrams of it, take it apart, and examine each bit of it, piece by piece. As time passed he really had to give credit to his father, doing all of this work under pressure, must have been a hell of a guy.

Naruto's train of thought was interrupted by a knock on his door. The knock seemed weak as the knocks had short breaks in between them. It was almost three a.m. and Naruto was wondering who on earth could be knocking on his door at this ungodly hour of the morning.

His clones stopped to look at the door, then at each other. The real Naruto sighed before getting up and walking to the door.

"I'll get it." He mumbled as he reached the door and undid the seals. As he opened the door, his tied looked turned into a look of confusion as he frowned at the sight before him.

Standing at his door, with suitcases at her side, her hair and clothes drenched in water from the pouring rain, was no one other that Haruno Sakura. Naruto took one look at her and her puffy red eyes, and two suitcases with clothes almost bursting at the seams. He came to one conclusion as he frowned, but he wanted to know what happened.

"What happened?" Naruto asked simply as she broke down crying.

"M-M-My parents k-kicked me o-out." She sobbed, fresh hot tears rolling down her cheeks. Naruto's eyes widened, why would they kick her out? Unfortunately for him, that question was answered straight away.

"My parents caught me practicing and reading some fūinjutsu books you let me borrow. They don't like me being a ninja as it is, so they told me that they had finally had enough of me and told me to leave and never come back…" Sakura said wiping her eyes, as if she couldn't believe what she was saying. It felt like a bad dream, a nightmare to the highest degree, her parents… effectively disowning her.

Naruto on the other hand was thinking just what kind of parents they were, kicking their twelve year old daughter out on her own, even if she was a ninja it wasn't right.

"They s-said that I was a s-shinobi now, and that I'm c-considered an adult and can t-take care of myself… so they kicked me out." Sakura said. "First I went to Sasuke's, but he just slammed the door on me, and I didn't want to go to Ino because she hates me because we were both in love with Sasuke, and I don't even know where Kakashi-sensei lives. You were my only option." Sakura said looking up into his eyes.

The eyes that she had punched, bullied and tarnished since she was in the academy, she would understand if he slammed the door on here now, it was only what she deserved.

Naruto sighed and smiled.

"Alright, you can stay with me… this place is a little messy because I wasn't expected any visitors." Naruto said as he led her in. She was so surprised that he even considered letting her live with him. They were ninja, considered adults, and adults do adult things and-

She stopped thinking, a large blush coming to her face, pushing those perverted thoughts out of her head quickly. She was just glad she had a roof to sleep under now. On her way here, she was expecting to live in some sort of ally way, thank Christ for Naruto and Kami-sama bless his kind heart.

As she walked in, she was surprised to see paper everywhere; covered in black ink and seals she couldn't even begin to understand! She saw two more Narutos' who were working at a desk, one was compiling seal paper, and the other one was reading and highlighting specific parts.

Naruto led her into the sitting room as he turned and smiled sheepishly.

"Well, I don't know where you will sleep, so I guess you can sleep in my bed for now and I'll sleep on the couch." Naruto said. Sakura wanted to protest but Naruto held up his hand, telling her silently that it was no problem. It wouldn't be the first time he had fallen asleep on the couch. Before he could say anything else, Sakura had lunged and embraced him in a tight hug, muttering over and over 'Thank you' and 'How can I ever repay you' lines. Naruto just smiled and returned the hug.

"Hey, were friends and teammates. I would never leave you to fend for yourself… besides, your one of my precious people, one of the only many friends I actually have. I'll die for you." Naruto said. However Naruto wasn't aware of how much that actually meant to a girl, and Sakura blushed that would make a tomato jealous. They were only twelve, and Naruto didn't know that much about girls so his words were oblivious to him and what he actually meant. All he meant to say was 'I'll stick by you no matter what and protect you as best I can.' Is what he actually meant to say.

With that said, Sakura went to bed, soon followed by Naruto. He was tired and needed sleep, especially since he now had Sakura as a roommate. Things would get interesting around here for the Namikaze heir. It was just a matter of time before things started to really get hard.

As Naruto crashed on the couch, he let his mind wonder as he thought about the past few weeks.

As he drifted off to sleep, he wondered how their first C-rank mission would play out. He had spoken to Kakashi a yesterday and Kakashi said that tomorrow, which was now today, they would be applying for a C-rank mission. Naruto was excited, be bet that this C-rank was going to be a cake walk.

Oh how he would regret thinking those very words.

* * *

A/N: That's Chapter three! I have no doubt some of you will quit with this story after this chapter. You can normally tell where a story goes from here, but I will be making some cool twists and non-cannon fillers that _might_ include some time travel and other shenanigans for one or two chapters.

Okay, I can already feel you guys raging at why Naruto learnt something as powerful as the Hiraishin so early, but please! There are methods to my madness! I try to find decent stories where Naruto learns the awesome technique and sadly, not found that many! I know what your thinking...

"Hiraishin and Bijuu mode? Why is this story not labeled god-like Naruto?" This is because, despite knowing the awesome powerful jutsu, Naruto will come up against people like Orochimaru and Pein that will find ways to defeat Naruto.

There will be times in this fic where Naruto will lose his battles in horrible ways. But I wont say anymore than that. Naruto is still young, so he can still be outsmarted by people older, slier and more devious than him. Still, even though Naruto seems powerful, I can guarantee that he will still be given a lot of trouble against the people like Akatsuki and what not.

Anyway, that's enough ranting for one chapter.

Lastly, flames will be ignored.

See you guys next chapter... if your still reading this that is.

Next Chapter: Wave Country and Hiding in my Shadow


	4. Wave Country and Enemies in my Shadow

A/N: Hey guys, been a while. Lately I've caught a few bugs going around so I haven't been feeling well... sorry for the late update.

This entire chapter is the Wave Arc in whole, and to be quite honest, for me this was really hard and frustrating to write as inspiration to change things about the Arc were annoying to think of. It took me forever to try and spice up some things, but I think I failed in that way, but oh well... Everything will start to get more interesting in the chuunin exams. I plan to take different routes in the way the chuunin exams took place in the cannon so there will be large differences.

For the Harem, the first two are definitely Yugito and Karin, so those two are in solid cement for the Harem. Still open for suggestions, but the Harem won't really start until perhaps after the chuunin exam Arc and will start to expand around the search for Tsunade Arc, that is if I get that far in writing this story.

For the Sasuke Bashing, i'll try my best to not bash him like other people do, like "I'm an Uchiha, i am the best and invincible." He'll be a dick in other ways like his lust for power and his cold hearted ways but in the end it might come out that they, so I've probably just contradicted myself here. Other than that, I don't really know how else to bash him. Sorry if you don't like me bashing him the way I do, It does say in the summary that he will be bashed, so if you don't like and it really bugs you that much then go find another story to read. Plus I just really, really hate Sasuke.

Anyway without any further ranting, on with the story!

* * *

Chapter Four

Naruto and Sakura awoke quite early since they had their first C-Rank mission today. It was rather early in the morning so they both got up quite slowly. They both had breakfast which to Sakura, she was surprised when it was not ramen, Naruto's favorite food.

Naruto frowned at her when she asked him what happened to his ramen addiction. He told her he loved Ramen, but it was important to keep a balance which is why most of his cupboards were packed with vegetables and other healthy foods.

In no time, they were ready. Since the mission was going out of the village, Naruto had both his and Sakura's things packed into separate scrolls. She had come far enough in fūinjutsu to learn how to seal things into and out of scrolls which she thought was brilliant and very efficient at.

Overnight Sakura found it rather hard to sleep, due to the trauma of being kicked out of her own home. Naruto couldn't believe parents could do something so heartless!

It wasn't long before they were on the road with Kakashi-sensei, Sasuke and the bridge builder Tazuna who was their client. He had paid for a simple C-rank mission to escort him to the land of the Waves, and also to be protected by bandits and thugs.

It was a few hours into walking and Naruto was at the front, however he was talking with Kurama about a strange feeling he was having.

"_I'm getting a bad feeling about this mission… something doesn't fit with the client."_ Naruto thought, he heard Kurama hum in agreement from his cage.

"**_I can sense his emotion, he's nervous, almost panicked… I don't like this Naruto. I have a feeling you are going to be fighting more than just bandits on this mission, I mean just look at him. He's sweating and it's a cool day."_** Kurama said with low growl. Naruto looked back at the bridge builder with narrowed eyes.

The bridge builder seemed to flinch at the stare before Naruto turned away and kept his pace at the start of the group. The visible nervousness in the man's eyes was obvious to Naruto that he was keeping information from them, and that was against Shinobi-client policy. For the safety of the mission, the ninja that are hired must know all the details of the mission otherwise they risk unnecessary danger.

In the next hour, Naruto's fear was proved to be true as the group walked passed a puddle, and everyone but Naruto and Kakashi had no idea was about to happen.

"_Genjutsu…"_ Both Kakashi and Naruto thought as they continued on walking. A few meters after they had crossed paths with the puddle, Naruto's sense of danger went haywire as he stopped, pulled out a Hiraishin kunai and flung it right towards the puddle. The kunai flew right passed Sasuke's head and through the group and shot straight towards the head that emerged from the puddle.

Before the missing-nin even knew what had hit him, Naruto had flashed to the kunai and delivered a Kyuubi chakra-infused punch to the shinobi's face sending him right out of the puddle and into a nearby tree. Kakashi was quick to respond to the sudden attack.

Naruto bounded right after the one he had just hit while Kakashi lazily went after the other one.

The missing-nin that hit the tree and fallen into a daze. He felt like he had been punched by Tsunade of the Sannin and was busy clutching his head in throbbing pain. Before he even knew what hit him, Naruto was on him, slapping seals all over his body, effectively sealing of both his chakra and his body movements. The man felt like he was bound by invisible ropes and his chakra had been cut off to the point where he couldn't even feel it running through his coils anymore.

Naruto stood in front of the demon brother with an annoyed look on his face. Before Naruto could say anything, Kakashi lazily tossed the other demon brother next to his brother, this brother though was bound in ninja wire and one of his arms were broken. Naruto raised an eyebrow while Kakashi turned and gave the thumbs up with his trademark eye smile.

"Nice job Naruto! Although I was going to wait for them to attack so I could see who they were after, but I guess I could find out another way. Go on ahead and lead the group, I'll catch up in a few minutes." Kakashi said with a happy eye smile. Naruto felt a shiver go up his spine, whatever Kakashi was going to do, it wasn't going to be pretty and Naruto wasn't sure he wanted to stick around for it.

"Sure Kakashi-sensei." Naruto said before heading back to the group. As he passed the group heading back to the front as well as picking up his Hiraishin kunai he had thrown, he got a disgusting glare from Sasuke and a happy glare from both Tazuna and Sakura. As Naruto headed to the front of the group, he was stopped by Sasuke who stood in front of him.

"What was that technique you used dobe?" Sasuke said with a glare. Naruto frowned, was there any part to this guy that was generous? Hasn't he got it though his thick head that he wasn't the best and that he doesn't need to be the best? Naruto decided to answer truthfully to a sense.

"It's an artificial bloodline created by my father. It's the _Hiraishin no Jutsu_, a jutsu that manipulates space and time to allow the user to instantly teleport to a marked location, hence the special kunai's I carry. It was labelled an S-rank jutsu and was the famed jutsu that gave my father his name. _Konoha no Kiiroi Senkō (Konoha's Yellow Flash)._" Naruto explained with a serious face. Sasuke's eyes narrowed.

"Sounds like an interesting jutsu, it would do well in more capable hands though." Sasuke said arrogantly. Naruto scowled before smirking at Sasuke's stupidity.

"Didn't you hear me Sasuke-baka? I said it's an artificial bloodline. That means only I can use it." Naruto said with a frown before pushing past Sasuke and continuing on ahead.

Sasuke went red with anger; he was not going to be out done by the _dobe_ of all people! He NEEDED to know that jutsu! He NEEDED it to kill _HIM_. Sasuke smirked, he didn't need to learn it, he would just copy it once he had his Sharingan, with a jutsu like that, he could definitely kill Itachi. Almost reading the Uchiha's mind, Naruto added one more thing.

"Oh, and it's not a cheap bloodline where you can just _awaken_ it, you have to learn it and study it, master it, decipher it and understand its strengths and weaknesses before you can actually use it. So you won't be able to copy a jutsu like Hiraishin with the Sharingan." Naruto said turning to Sasuke with a foxy grin before turning away. Sasuke was about to attempt to kill Naruto but Kakashi had returned to the group.

"Yo. It looks like those were the Demon brothers, missing-nin from Kirigakure (Village Hidden by the Mist). They were hired by a millionaire to kill our client…" Kakashi said turning to Tazuna who was beginning to sweat even more from the implied voice that Kakashi was using.

"Which also means that you have lied to us about our situation? This isn't the run of the mill C-rank mission; this is clearly a B or A-rank mission fit for high level Chuunin or Jounin. Tazuna-san, could you explain why this is?" Kakashi said narrowing his eyes at the bridge builder.

Tazuna's face dropped significantly to a look that looked like someone had just died. The old drunken builder sighed as he began his tale.

"Look, my village is on the border of becoming bankrupt! All of our funds put together and we could only come up with enough money for a lowly C-rank! The tyrant Gatō has ruined our country, taken all of our freedom and kills anyone who tries to make a stand! The bridge we are building will ruin his business since he is the very same Gatō who runs the Shipping Company in the Waves. He is ruining our lives; please you have to help us!" Tazuna said, almost begging. Naruto smiled.

"Sure, we will help you." Naruto said with the thumbs up. Tazuna smiled with glee and hope while Kakashi frowned a little.

"Now hold on Naruto, that isn't your call. I'm the sensei of Team Seven and my word is final." Kakashi said sternly. Naruto pouted a little and turned to his sensei and used Puppy dog eyes no Jutsu.

"Come on sensei, we can help these people! Who cares if it's a lowly C-rank, I'm sure they will pay us the right amount once they get their business back up and their money is coming back in." Naruto said. Kakashi shook his head at Naruto.

"That's not the point Naruto; it's not about the money. This mission is clearly B-Rank and above, something that is far above…Genin level." Kakashi said slightly eyeing both Sasuke and Sakura. He knew Naruto was able to take care of himself. Hell, Kakashi wouldn't be surprised if Naruto was able to go against the Sandaime and come out on top. With Hiraishin and a Bijuu on his side, he truly did not know how powerful Naruto was.

Naruto frowned, knowing he got the message that Sasuke and Sakura weren't strong or experienced enough to do this type of mission.

"Ah to hell with that then, I'm helping Tazuna-san regardless! Sakura, are you in?" Naruto said turning towards Sakura with a hopeful smile. She nodded bravely and went and stood by his side, both looking at Kakashi with determination clear in they're eyes. Sasuke grudgingly accepted and went and stop beside them, only a few meters apart from the other two.

Kakashi sighed, if someone died on this mission, there would be hell to pay. And he could cop most of the flake and end up back in ANBU most likely.

"Alright, then lets continue on with the mission, but from now on you are to stay alert. The Demon brothers aren't the only shinobi we will be facing. Treat this like an A-rank mission, its kill or be killed. Understand?" Kakashi said with a serious face. The three Genin nodded like they were sheep. Kakashi eye smiled.

"Excellent! Let's continue on then shall we?"

* * *

It was hours later that Team Seven encountered their next threat. It was just after they had used a small row boat to get across the water. Naruto wanted to run across to the other side because he felt like they were sitting ducks out there in the water, but Kakashi had denied his request, much to Narutos' annoyance.

It was on that boat when Tazuna decided to tell them just what Gatō was doing in their country that made them so poor. Naruto and Sakura were disgusted, while Kakashi looked sympathetic. Sasuke on the other hand just scoffed silently to himself, thinking that these people were weak and could not defend themselves, but why should he complain? It was his time to shine to show his true power!

As they were walking along the track, Naruto stopped suddenly when a white hare crossed paths in front of them. Both he and Kakashi once again narrowed their eyes at this.

"_That hare, it has white fur… it's the middle of summer! What's it doing here… unless…"_ Naruto thought before Kakashi's voice rang out a warning.

"Everybody get down now!" Kakashi yelled as everyone hit the deck in time for a huge blade that was spinning as fast as a shuriken flew just over their heads, grazing some of their hair before it embedded itself in a nearby tree. They all looked up in time to see a figure appear atop of the blade, barely a Kakashi-like appearance.

This man had bandages covering the bottom half of his face, he also had spiky black hair and wore a black tank top and black shinobi pants. His Hitai-ate had the Kirigakure symbol on it with a line through the middle. His eyes radiated bloodlust as he grinned at the group through his bandages. You could almost feel the razor sharp teeth through those white dirty bandages.

Kakashi looked up at the man and frowned, his worry for the mission taking a large leap forward in terms of seriousness.

"You are Momochi Zabuza, A-rank Nuke-nin of Kirigakure, wanted for planning a coup d'état against the Yondaime Mizukage. Your also infamous for your _Sairento Kiringu (Silent Killing Technique)_ in unison with _Kirigakure no Jutsu (Hiding in the Mist Technique)_. You are also known as _Kirigakure no Kijin (Demon of the Hidden Mist)._" Kakashi recited perfectly as one of his hands slowly edged towards his slanted Hitai-ate. Zabuza chuckled slightly as he looked at Kakashi.

"I see you are well informed, _Sharingan no Kakashi (Kakashi of the Copy Wheel Eye)_. Now if you would just step aside and hand the bridge builder over, things don't have to get messy." Zabuza said with a glint in his eye. Unfortunately, Kakashi wasn't the one to answer. Zabuza found himself dodging a strange looking kunai that was thrown by a familiar looking blonde.

Zabuza turned and looked at what the kid had thrown, his eyes widened in absolute disbelief and shock as he saw the famed Hiraishin kunai embedded in the tree, only a few seconds before he jumped away.

"_Impossible, he can't be-"_ Zabuza's thoughts were interrupted as Naruto appeared in a yellow flash right before Zabuza's eyes, delivering a kick to the stomach sending the shocked A-ranked missing-nin right onto the lake behind them. Zabuza managed to regain his balance as he landed on the water, while Naruto remained stuck to the tree, watching Zabuza's every move with his piercing blue eyes.

"Sorry, but you aren't going to touch Tazuna-san here. So you have two options, give up and leave, or die here today." Naruto said seriously. Zabuza narrowed his eyes.

"_That was definitely the infamous Hiraishin that Iwa has bitched about for the past few years. Jeez, how can this kid know such a powerful Jutsu? Hmm, now that I think about it, he looks a lot like Namikaze Minato from the old bingo books."_ Zabuza thought. The demon from the hidden mist looked up at the kid.

"Hey, kid, you wouldn't happen to know Namikaze Minato would you? That jutsu you just used seems strangely familiar." Zabuza said, hoping the blonde Jinchuriki would enlighten him further. Naruto smiled.

"Yeah, I know him; he's my father, and yes, that Jutsu you just saw was the very jutsu which gave him his name. I'm his legacy, Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto-ttebayo!" Naruto said with a slight smile. Zabuza cursed internally.

No way in hell did he ever take into account that he would be fighting Kakashi of the Sharingan, let alone the son of a SS-ranked shinobi with a, flee on sight order in the bingo books. It didn't help that this kid had that famed jutsu in his arsenal, who knew what else he had up his sleeve.

Kakashi rolled his eyes. Naruto may be incredibly strong and smart, but with him there was no cases of such secrecy when fighting a potentially dangerous enemy… so troublesome, you're supposed to keep your strongest ace for last, not use it straight away… then again, he did have Kyuubi on his side, he still had yet to witness what Naruto could do with that kind of power. Zabuza cursed silently to himself.

_"There's no way I can win this match, I'll have to come back more prepared. This is a fight I cannot win, even I know my limits. I can probably take on Kakashi, but definitely not him and the brat together._ _I'll have to find a way to separate them, time to retreat for now… as much as I hate to, it's the best move I can think of."_ Zabuza thought before answering.

"I think I'll come back later, you're an interesting little brat… I'll make sure I deliver your body to Iwagakure when I'm finished with you next time." Zabuza said before he vanished via Shunshin. Naruto narrowed his eyes; the mentioning of Iwa was not good.

If Iwa found out of his existence, and that he knew his father's infamous jutsu that would instantly put him in the Bingo Books as a possible A or maybe even S-rank Ninja with a capture order on his head.

Naruto smiled at that, he could have a cool title and be feared all over the shinobi nations just because he knew his father's Jutsu. Then he frowned, he didn't want to be feared, he wanted to bring peace to this cursed world!

Sighing Naruto jumped down off the tree and back to his group. Kakashi was smiling at him, obviously silently thanking him for scaring off Zabuza so they didn't have to have a fight.

"Well that was unexpected, but not that I'm complaining for anything. The less fighting there is, the easier the mission is. Come on; let's get to Tazuna-sans home. We're running out of day light." Kakashi said with an eye smile and continued on.

Naruto stayed at the back of the group so he didn't have to feel Sasuke's eyes boring holes into the back of his head. Sakura came and walked next to Naruto, feeling a little nervous.

"Hey, Naruto… can you help me become a better ninja?" She asked hesitantly. He turned and looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"What, do you mean don't you see yourself as a good ninja?" Naruto asked with a look of concern in his eyes. Sakura looked at the ground in disappointment. She sighed in a depressed tone.

"Well, to be honest, not really… but I want to become a great ninja, I see you and Sasuke, you two are just so powerful compared to me… I want to become stronger, faster and more reliable. I don't want to have to rely on you and Sasuke to protect me… I want to become strong to protect the people I care about and Konoha!" Sakura said to Naruto. He looked at her with a glint of happiness in his eyes before looking at Sasuke.

"Have you gotten over your silly little fan-girl crush on Sasuke yet?" Naruto asked with a small grin. Sakura looked offended at first but then looked at the ground with self-loathing in her eyes.

"It took me awhile… but I have convinced myself that he cares for no one but himself." She said looking up at the back of the raven haired Uchiha. "All he cares about is killing is brother, and I actually wonder if he will ever succeed. Then I see you, you have mastered all these Jutsu, a genius in fūinjutsu… I can't believe I fell for your act in the academy! I should have been able to put the pieces together." Sakura said shamefully. Naruto just chuckled light heartedly before giving her a smile.

"Don't worry about it… for a time I didn't really like you because you yelled and talked so loudly and was always abusive towards other people, why was that?" He asked. Sakura looked ashamed at her actions.

"It was a mixture of family abuse and wanting Sasuke's attention that pushed me to do the things I did, I guess it was more or less to portraying myself as a person who shouldn't be taken for a weak little girl." She answered truthfully. Naruto nodded, it was a fair reason… they were young and they do stupid things sometimes.

She just happened to do some really idiotic things, but all humans are capable of redemption, even Sasuke, but that is highly unlikely. People who walk down the road that Sasuke is currently walking down don't often come back sane or alive.

"I see, well I'm here for you Sakura, and I'm sure Kakashi-sensei likes you. Maybe once we get back I can teach you a few things. You sound like you would make a great medical-Nin." Naruto said as Sakura gave it a bit of thought. She actually quite liked the idea of that, she had always admired Tsunade of the Sannin as a shinobi.

"I would… actually quite like that. Yeah, I would really like if you could do that for me Naruto." Sakura said with a small tone of happiness in her voice.

She was starting to like Naruto, but she wasn't starting to grow _those _types of feelings for the blonde ball of sunshine, no he was more of a brother figure than anything else to her. He took her in when she was at her lowest, it takes real heart to do something like that.

Naruto smiled as he closed his eyes.

"Yeah, I believe you could become a great Medic-Nin with enough training. I could maybe talk to Hokage-Jiji and possibly get some cool medical training methods you could use for your training. I could help you with your stamina, strength and fūinjutsu, you might have to get Kakashi-sensei for Genjutsu and Ninjutsu thought." He said.

After a little more while of walking, Sakura decided to ask a question that had been bugging her for a while but when she actually wanted to ask, it always slipped her mind.

"Hey, Naruto… If your father was the Yondaime Hokage, don't you think he would have had some big stylish house or something? Why don't you live in that house instead of that crummy apartment? Not saying that your living style is bad or anything but hasn't Sandaime-sama mentioned any sort of family heritage property?" Sakura asked as she looked towards the sky.

Naruto stopped dead, his eyes wide as he slapped his head with his palm over and over again.

"Wow, thanks Sakura I actually never even thought of that… I'll ask Hokage-Jiji once we get back from this mission. If there is a house that my father owned, I am so moving in. I'm sick of that apartment anyway; it's too crammed with the two of us in there." Naruto said as Sakura once again looked sad at his comment. Naruto held up his hands with a sheepish expression.

"Not to say I don't like your company… it's just that my apartment is more of a one person place, having two people staying there is a bit much. Don't worry; I'll sort something out with Hokage-Jiji when we get back. I think we both deserve a bigger house." Naruto said with a smile as Sakura beamed. She had become quite comfortable living with Naruto.

He was much more mature than he ever was at the academy; he was everything she wanted Sasuke to be and much more.

The rest of the walk was in silence. Little did they know, a few shinobi from a _certain_ village were patrolling the outskirts of the land of the wave for a B-rank mission given by their Kage. Their mission was to scout out any potential threats, and as they passed Narutos' group without them knowing, the leader of the group forced the squad of shinobi to stop as they examined Team Seven from the tree-lines, their chakra suppressed and very well hidden.

"Hey, check it out! That kid looks a little like _him_, doesn't he?" The leader whispered. The group of Shinobi narrowed their eyes on the blonde and the trench coat he was wearing.

"_Konoha no Tsugi Senkō_… It can't be! Did _he_ have a child?" One of the hidden shinobi asked with a panicked voice. A couple of the other shinobi crouched in the tree where making for their kunai's before the leader stopped them.

"You fools, stop! He is no doubt the son of _that man_, look at his hair, his figure, even that cursive coat he's wearing! His chakra is through the roof! That kid isn't to be assaulted so easily, we will follow him, and study him and then report back to Tsuchikage-sama." The leader said as the group of Iwa shinobi cursed but calmed down.

A few minutes later, Naruto caught a disturbance in the air… Kakashi even picked up on it too, they were surrounded by killing intent one second and the next it vanished. Naruto shuddered uneasily, he didn't like the feel of that killing intent, and it felt like it was directed at him.

"**_Careful Naruto… that killing intent came from more than one person, and that was not Zabuza. Keep your guard up at all times… I think were being hunted."_** Kurama warned with a growl. Naruto internally nodded and continued walking.

This mission was going to be very long indeed.

* * *

When they arrived at the town in the Wave, it looked like it was a barren town, like one you would see out in a desert. There were people around but they all looked… weak and very white, pale even, some even quite sick.

Naruto and the group minus Sasuke, looked around the as they walked down the street now led by Tazuna. Naruto couldn't believe what he was seeing. This place was worse than the red light district in Konoha!

"What the hell… I can literally smell the sickness in the air. What the hell has Gatō done to this place?" Naruto said distastefully. Tazuna sighed sadly.

"It is what it looks like. Barely any of us have enough money to pay for food let alone medicine. Most of us here suffer from sickness and some of us are homeless. Gatō's thugs are like the police of this country. We have little to no rights. The only reason we are able to build the bridge is because we rebelled and pushed them out, but we are running out of strength and as you have seen.

"Gatō is hiring ninja to kill me now, so we have no chance unless we are to hire our own ninja, and with the money we have it is almost impossible!" Tazuna said. There was an uncomfortable silence before Naruto stopped and turned around, facing the town and the majority of its people.

"Hey everyone, listen up!" Naruto yelled over all the noise. All of the civilians stopped to turn to the young Namikaze with questionable looks. Naruto simply grinned with confidence. Kakashi, Sasuke, Sakura and Tazuna stopped and turned to the blonde in question with confused looks. Kakashi looked more amused; this boy definitely had the spirit of Kushina, and the kind heart of Minato.

How ironic, such a great combination.

"Citizens of the Wave country, I am here with my Team to help build and finish the bridge so your country can thrive once again!" Naruto said. Some of the civilians looked generally pleased and interest while others looked depressed, as if Team Seven's appearance was nothing special. Naruto pointed to his headband as his look turned serous.

"We are Leaf shinobi, and while we are here, in this town, you are safe from Gatō-teme's tyranny! I don't care if it costs me my life, I will make sure that by the time I leave this country, Gatō's head will be on a platter and he will have paid for his crimes here. The bridge will be finished, and this country will no longer have to suffer from his dictatorship!" Naruto fished with a declaration. The whole area, filled with hundreds if not thousands of citizens all looked at Naruto as he looked back at them, with determination in his eyes.

The crowd started to part as a five large muscly thugs pushed their way through to where Naruto was standing.

"Move aside you rats! Out of the way, let us deal with this punk." The first one said walking up to Naruto and bending down to Naruto and making a baby face.

"Aw, is the wittle boy not know his place? Don't worry, I'll make sure you know it once I'm done with-" the man state before he was cut off. All of the thug's friends looked at the man in question before he fell backwards holding his throat that was not bleeding profusely. In a matter of seconds, the first thug's eyes rolled back into his skull, the life completely void of the body.

All the thugs turned to Naruto in shock, who was holding a bloody kunai in his right hand. He dipped his head down, so they couldn't see his eyes.

"You have five seconds to leave this area before I end your existence." Naruto growled in a dark tone of voice, void of emotion. The thugs raged and ran at Naruto who simply sighed and made one hand seal.

"So be it." He said simply as four Kage Bunshin popped in to existence, flashing towards the thugs and slashing their throats at lightning fast speeds. In seconds, all the thugs dropped to the ground like dead weight. Naruto turned and looked at the shocked civilians before smiling.

"I said it once, I'll say it again. Gatō's time in this country… IS OVER!" Naruto yelled as all the civilians cheered loudly. Finally a savior had come for them, they would be finally free of Gatō's tyranny, they would be able to grow their crops again, they would be able to make money again, it was like all the dreams of the villages had come true.

Naruto turned away from the cheering village and walked back to his team. Sakura looked absolutely shocked by what he had just done; he had single handily killed five thugs. He had ended their lives, she couldn't believe it. Kakashi gave a sympathetic smile at Naruto who just weakly smiled back.

"It's just like what Hokage-Jiji said… sometimes the road of a shinobi is hard, it can be almost a nightmare, but we must endure, because we are shinobi. Sometimes, for the good of people, we must kill one life, to save the life of many. That is what we do. In this case, it's Gatō; we have to kill him, to make sure that all these people in the Wave are safe." Naruto said with a smile.

It was a lovely moment for team seven. Kakashi smiled, Sakura's appalled look turned to one of stars in her eyes as she looked at Naruto, Tazuna simply smiled and nodded, agreeing with Naruto's statement. However one person just had to ruin it.

"Dobe, are you done being a philosopher?" Sasuke said smugly. Naruto and Sakura turned to the raven haired Uchiha that said the line that ruined the mood.

"Shut up Sasuke-teme!" Both Naruto and Sakura growled in unison.

xXxXx

Arriving at Tazuna's home, Team Seven quickly made themselves at home as they were going to be staying there until the bridge was finished. After being introduced to the family and a negative little boy called Inari, the team decided they better go and start their training as Kakashi put it. They would be learning something new today.

When they got to the designated area, Naruto frowned; he already knew what Kakashi was going to teach them, so he decided to intervene before Kakashi could explain the exercise.

"Kakashi-sensei, if you're going to make us does tree climbing then there's really no point. Both me and Sakura are already masters at it, before we left on this mission I was about to help her with water walking." Naruto pointed out.

Kakashi hummed to himself as he looked at Sasuke who was seething that he didn't know the tree climbing exercise. Kakashi threw a kunai at Sasuke's feet.

"Mark your progress with that. Little tip, too much chakra applied to your feet, and the tree bark will shatter, too little and you will slip. Get to it Sasuke, your already behind your teammates in progression." Kakashi said as Sasuke picked up the kunai and sprinted towards the tree, eager to make up the lost time.

Kakashi turned to Sakura and Naruto and hummed to himself.

"Well, what would you two like to learn? I had planned tree climbing but since you both claim to know it, I'll take your word for it." Kakashi said with a happy look and eye smile. He would take Naruto's word, it was obvious he knew and he was silently training Sakura behind his back. Oh well, less work for him then.

"Hey Kakashi-sensei… you were a student of my father right? Do you know any of his signature techniques?" Naruto asked, eager to know more about his father personally. Books were just a sort of biography and didn't go into any details about personal things. Kakashi's one visible eye looked up into the sky in thought before he looked back at Naruto and smiled.

"Watch closely." He instructed as he held out a hand. Naruto watched closely as Kakashi gathered the chakra to his hand. In little time, a blue ball of rotating chakra appeared in his hand. Naruto's eyes widened as he looked at the blue ball. Was that what he thought it was? The other signature technique that his father created… was it the-

"_Rasengan (Spiralling Sphere)!_" Kakashi exclaimed loudly as the blue ball of chakra shone brightly in his hand. Naruto's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as he looked at the technique with awe and wonder. His veins fueled with excitement as he gazed upon the power of the technique. Kakashi eye smiled at the blonde's look of awe.

"This is one of Minato-sensei's prized Jutsu. Only a few know of it, including Jiraiya-sama. I think it's only right to teach his son this A-rank Jutsu since you already know the jutsu that gave Minato-sensei his name." Kakashi said with pride. He never really used the Rasengan, mainly due to when he went on missions, the use of the technique would bring unwanted attention and he would be targeted much more. He already was an A-Class ninja in the bingo books, no need to increase that to S-rank.

"_Wow, that's the Rasengan? It looks a lot like a Bijudama! I bet it's made the same way." _Naruto thought to himself. He looked up to Kakashi with excitement in his eyes.

"So what are the steps to learning that jutsu Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked. Kakashi had to stop and think about that for a moment, he had learned the jutsu a long time ago, but he preferred to use Chidori more. He then remembered how Jiraiya had learned the technique; it was first using Chakra shape manipulation, and then making it stronger using water balloons and rubber balls.

"Well, first you have to get Chakra shape manipulation down, then you have to increase the strength of it, then the third step is to combined to two and then the outcome should be the Rasengan." Kakashi explained.

Naruto grinned, it was almost exactly like a Bijudama, except it was using his own chakra, rotating it and using shape manipulation to make it. It was a good thing it didn't have to be a ratio of eight to two.

In his excitement, Naruto held out his hand like Kakashi did. Kakashi was about to stop him and tell him that trying it now was pretty useless but he stopped himself, and reminded himself that this was Naruto and that Naruto tended to surprise people, so to ready himself, Kakashi was expecting Naruto to form in on the first try. Still he was shocked that he saw the chakra gather to form the Rasengan.

Naruto was struggling to form it while both Kakashi and a silent Sakura watched closely as Naruto attempted to form the A-rank jutsu. Slowly, the blue chakra gathered and a tiny little ball formed in Naruto's hands. The blonde Jinchuriki was sweating, trying to keep his concentration as the blue ball got bigger. In about a few minute's time, Naruto had formed the Rasengan perfectly as the blue ball sat in the middle of his hands.

Naruto looked up at Kakashi with a grin. His sensei frowned back but with pride behind those eyes.

"Naruto… have you had training in Chakra manipulation and shape manipulation before; because what you did was impossible, for someone not to have training in Chakra shape manipulation and perform the Rasengan right after they had seen it is ridiculous." Kakashi said as he studied Naruto. The blonde sighed. He was caught and he didn't even mean to be.

"Yeah, to tell you the truth, I've been doing shape manipulation for a very long time, so the Rasengan came easily to me. The reason why I was practicing Shape manipulation was for a different technique that is very similar to the Rasengan, but its three times more difficult and complex to make." Naruto said. Kakashi's eyes narrowed as Sakura looked confused.

"Naruto, what are you talking about? What technique is it?" Sakura asked joining the group's convocation. Kakashi also decided to pitch in as well, wanting to know what technique Naruto was practicing.

"I would also like to see what technique you have been attempting as well. If it's similar to the Rasengan I would like to see it." Kakashi asked nicely. He was generally interested in what Naruto had learned, if anything maybe he could help him in what he was trying to do. Hell, maybe he could even get Naruto started on Nature manipulation.

"Alright, but what I'm about to show you is an S-class secret that only Hokage-Jiji and I can tell. Before I do this, I would like to ask Sakura something." Naruto said turning to Sakura. Kakashi's eyes widened as he realized what Naruto was about to do.

_"Is he going to use some form of Kyuubi's chakra? This has gotten a lot more interesting, Naruto has come so far along, I wonder just how good he is."_ Kakashi wondered. Naruto approached Sakura and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Sakura… what do you know about the Kyuubi attack on our village twelve years ago?" Naruto asked cautiously. Sakura raised an eyebrow and hummed in deep thought.

"Well I read that it was a devastating attack that left hundreds of families killed and some families with family members killed. It also left many shinobi killed, critically injured beyond repair, some shinobi even had to give up their shinobi career because the attack hurt them so badly. The Kyuubi was on a rampage until the Yondaime, your father killed it. Is that right?" She looked at Kakashi and Naruto for confirmation but both of them looked like they had both witnessed the death of someone they cared about.

"Wha-what happened? Why are you all looking like that?" Sakura said with a confused look on her face. Naruto looked into her eyes while Kakashi looked down to the ground in shame.

"Sakura… you're only mostly right. While you got all the details on the attack correct, there is one thing you got wrong. The Kyuubi was not killed." Naruto said. Sakura frowned, if that was true then how was it stopped?

"What do you mean? How was it stopped then?" She asked. Naruto sighed; Kakashi looked at the ground even further in shame, the very night bringing back terrible memories. The night where he, Sandaime and a group of ANBU found Minato and Kushina, lying next to a small podium with Naruto on it. Both parents had giant holes in their stomachs. Kushina was still alive when they got their but Minato wasn't moving a single muscle.

"The Kyuubi is a part of a group called Bijuu or tailed beasts. There are exactly nine of them, with Kyuubi having the most tails and being the strongest of the Bijuu. The thing is Bijuu cannot be killed since they are beings that are solely made of Chakra. They have so much chakra that it gives them a shape and form. Let me ask you this Sakura… can you kill chakra?" Naruto asked. Sakura shook her head, it was impossible to kill chakra. If you did it would reform later.

"No you can't, but then how did Yondaime defeat the Kyuubi then?" She asked. She didn't understand what this had to do with Naruto learning a new technique, but obviously he was getting to that part.

"In order to defeat the Kyuubi, my dad had to seal him in something or _someone_. Sakura, what day was it when Kyuubi attacked Konoha?" Naruto asked. Sakura hummed to herself as she thought back to the academy, it was well known knowledge the day of the Kyuubi attack and its defeat, they held a festival every year for it.

"Tenth of October…" She said. Naruto nodded.

"When is my birthday Sakura?" He asked. She looked at him strangely again.

"Tenth of Oc…to…ber, oh kami-sama!" She cried as the realization struck her like a bolt of lightning. His father wouldn't do something like that to Naruto would he? Why would he do that? Why put something so dangerous _INSIDE_ his son?! She put a hand over her mouth from the shook as Naruto closed his eyes.

"If you haven't already figured it out, which I doubt you haven't by the look on your face. Yes, my father did indeed seal the Kyuubi no Yōkō inside of me at the cost of his own life." He said. Sakura felt like crying. He had been carrying that burden his whole life all on his own?

"I-is that why… Is that why all those people look at you that way? Is that why my parents told me to stay away from the blonde boy? Is that why you were so… alone?" She asked, her eyes lining with tears. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. It was too terrible to be true! The reason why Naruto was alone, was because of something he had no control over?

"Yes… it was, it's why all the villagers look at me like I'm some kind of murder, they hate me, despise my existence, it's also why every year on my birthday, instead of going to parties and celebrating that day, it's the most dangerous day of my life. I'm forced into a survival game as I am chased by mobs of people who want to beat me to death because they think I am Kyuubi reincarnated." Naruto explained. Sakura was lost for words. His life had been a living hell, how was he so happy?

"How…" She asked. Naruto raised an eyebrow at that.

"What do you mean?" He asked. She looked at him, with teary eyes.

"How do you keep going? If I was you I would have given up long ago… How do you keep going on when everyone around you hated you like that? I don't know what I would have done." Sakura said with teary eyes. Naruto just chuckled.

"I learned to be strong; I learned to push past that. There was a time where I thought like that to, where I cried and wondered why nobody wanted me, but then I had enough of crying, I cried so much that it got bored of crying and a fire that was lit inside of me decided to push me to achieve my goals. That's why I was always declaring that I was going to become Hokage. It's so everyone will recognize me and acknowledge my existence. I wanted to become strong to protect those people that are precious to me: Hokage-Jiji, Kakashi-sensei, Shikamaru, and you." Naruto smiled. Sakura looked up, a glint of admiration in her eyes. How could she ever hope to be as strong as Naruto?

Sakura then hugged Naruto as tears fell down her face. Naruto easily returned the hug with a smile on his face.

"I acknowledge you Naruto" She said.

"I'll protect you Sakura, with the power I am striving for; I will make sure that all my precious people are safe." He said. Sakura felt like melting in his arms, his aura was so protective, his goals so pure… it was almost impossible not to be caught in admiring him his strength to keep going no matter what.

"Plus when I actually met Kyuubi I realized that he wasn't that bad." Naruto said with a smile as Kurama scoffed inside of his head. Sakura looked confused now. Which was it, was the Kyuubi bad or was he good?

"I won't go into details, Kakashi-sensei can tell you about it later but it turns out that Kyuubi didn't really want to attack Konoha that night, he was being control by a guy called Uchiha Madara." Naruto explained. Her eyes widened at this new information.

"Long story short, me and Kyuubi, well his name is actually Kurama. We have a special bond now and it's sort of a friendship. We combined our Chakra together, we get this form." Naruto said as he clapped his hands together. Before Kakashi and Sakura could react, Naruto's form changed.

He was now covered in a yellow flame; the loose fabric from his Hitai-ate was floating upwards. His trench coat floated in a non-existent breeze. His eyes donned an orange glow to them while six magatama appeared around his neck.

Both Kakashi and Sakura's breath hitched as they felt their senses assaulted by Naruto's new chakra. It was so large it could be considered an ocean! It easily rivaled a Biju's; well it wasn't that surprising since it was a mixture of both Kyuubi and Naruto's chakra.

Sakura found herself staring in complete wonder as Naruto donned this new powerful look about him. It was like she was staring into the sun! He looked so confident, powerful, and unstoppable force of nature. She felt safe to have him on her team.

"This form is a mixture of both Kurama-san's chakra and my own. This is Bijuu mode. All my physical factors are tripled, strength, speed; reaction time… pretty much everything about me is tripled. I can even sense emotions." Naruto said. Sakura laughed nervously.

"_Shit! Hide the emotions, shut them away, I can't let him know that I'm admiring him like a school girl with a crush!"_ Sakura and Inner Sakura thought in a panic at the same time. Naruto grinned as he looked at the priceless faces of both Kakashi and Sakura.

"Man you should see the look on your faces!" Naruto chuckled. Kakashi was busy trying to calm himself down. The power was almost suffocating! Naruto looked amazing! Kakashi knew that come Chuunin exams, Naruto would be an unstoppable force! Not even Lee would be able to even compare to Naruto, Neji would get his ass pounded into the ground with Naruto's power, and finally the entire village will see that Naruto is a true hero.

"Alright, now the technique I was going to show you." Naruto said as he got down in a stance. Two chakra arms popped out from Naruto's back as he held his hands under and the chakra arms on top. Kakashi was confused until he saw the dense chakra start to form something that looked exactly like the Rasengan.

"_That's not… - no way, that's a Bijudama!"_ Kakashi thought as all the oxygen left him in shook. He had only seen one of these before, and that was when Kyuubi decided to launch one off at the Hokage mountain, only for it to disappear into thin air and appear in a valley miles out of Konoha.

Naruto maintained his focus until the Bijudama had come to the same size of a Rasengan. Naruto held it in one hand with a grin on his face.

"It took me two years just to get it this big! This ability is so dangerous I broke several bones just trying to get one this big. Don't take its size for granted though, I've tested what the destruction of this thing this size can do. Trust me, it's not pretty, it's very destructive." Naruto said. Kakashi deadpanned.

"_No kidding, a Bijudama is a tailed beast skill! If it was given a shinobi class it would classed as an S-class Kinjutsu because of its raw power!"_ Kakashi thought as he examined the tailed beast ball. Sakura was gaping at the chakra that was resting in Naruto's hand. It was so dense, it felt like a rock!

Naruto safely pulled the chakra back into his system, slowly to make sure he didn't accidentally set it off and kill both Sakura and Kakashi. Naruto smiled when he deactivated Bijuu mode and looked at both of them with a grin.

"So that's how I know Chakra shape manipulation. I learned it a few years ago. I didn't realize the Rasengan was formed almost the same way! Anyway, I'm going to go and grab some food, come on Sakura we can get you onto to water walking ASAP!" Naruto said with a grin before running back to the house. Kakashi and Sakura stood deadpanning at Naruto's leaving form.

"_Just what am I going to do with that kid?" _Kakashi thought as he followed after. He wouldn't be surprised if after the chuunin exams if Sandaime stepped down and gave Naruto the title of Hokage! Honestly Naruto already rivaled the old Kage in terms of power; all Naruto needed know was experience.

"_What a troublesome boy, sensei I bet your laughing right now at how powerful your son has become; he's already surpassed most of the ninja in the village… maybe including myself even."_ Kakashi thought with a hint of pride. Sakura followed on behind Kakashi silently, keeping her thoughts straight.

Naruto was completely different from the academy Naruto that she used to know; it was like this Naruto kidnapped the real Naruto and took his place. But Sakura knew that Naruto was powerful, she had always had this edging thought all the way throughout the academy that the troublesome blonde was hiding something, she didn't know he was hiding something like this though.

Meanwhile, little did they know Sasuke had made it to a branch and had watched the whole thing play out and needless to say Sasuke's eyes were bloodshot with pure hot white burning rage!

"_That power! What was that? It felt so pure and strong… how is that dobe hiding something like that? Surely I would have picked up on something like that back in the academy! Has he really been hiding his true strength all this time? In which case… how powerful is he?' _Sasuke thought with a trouble look.

Little did he know he was still standing on the tree and his chakra focus slipped, he fell off the tree and hit the ground hard, he scowled and got up and headed back up the tree, determined to get it right.

About an hour later, Kakashi told Naruto about nature manipulation and found out his nature affinity was Fūton. Kakashi kind of smiled at that, it was the same as Minato's which was quite ironic, there was so much to the boy that was Minato, and Kushina at the same time. Meanwhile, Naruto had a Kage Bunshin teaching Sakura how to water walk and running her through the steps that were needed for the advanced chakra exercise.

Since they were going to come up against Zabuza again soon, the more training they did, the better prepared they were. Kakashi had taken up the responsibility of guarding Tazuna during the day while Sasuke did tree climbing, Sakura did water walking, and Naruto did Nature manipulation with the leaf and his four hundred Kage Bunshin doing the same thing to speed up the training.

Kakashi wasn't a Fūton expert, but he knew someone that was. He told Naruto to think of wind as a slicing sort of chakra. He told him to think of sharp, razor cutting edges when manipulating wind. And very soon, Naruto was well on his way with the leaf cutting exercise. He had managed to make a tiny little cut on the edge of the leaf, and with four hundred Kage Bunshin doing the same, that tiny little cut extending about another tiny cuts length worth.

Sakura was making good progress as she kept at her water walking exercises, jumping around, pretending to spar with the air on the water. It was rare that she would fall in but she would come back to shore when she came to chakra exhaustion.

Sasuke was still attempting to complete tree climbing despite is consistent failure. He was getting angrier by the second; he would slip off and hurt himself. He was even more pissed off when he found out that Water walking was the exercise above this, and Sakura of all people was doing it before he was! His fan-girl was surpassing him! It was unacceptable! He would train harder, surpass Naruto, and then he would kill Itachi.

* * *

Later that night, they had all returned from their training. Naruto was happy with his nature manipulation progress while Sakura on the over hand was drenched head to toe because of the few times she actually fell into the water. Sasuke was covered in dirt, sticks were poking out of his hair while he wore an arrogant, pissed off expression, it was obvious to everyone that he hadn't completed what he wanted to, and now he was going to show it to the world.

Naruto saw that expression and decided not to comment; instead he went and sat down to eat the dinner that Tsunami had made for them. It was a nice dinner at first, before the mood was interrupted as a boy came into the room with a large noticeable scowl on his face.

"Are these people still here? How pointless, Gatō is going to kill them if they stay here." The boy known as Inari muttered sullenly. Naruto narrowed his eyes but decided not to comment, he knew how kids like this were once they had their minds set on something, hell he was one of them. Tsunami looked at Inari with a sad and broken hearted face.

"Inari, show some respect! These people are here to protect your grandfather!" Tsunami ordered but received a growl from Inari which silenced her, she knew what he was like in this mood, no amount of yelling, or ordering was going to change anything, Inari was going to voice his opinion whether they wanted to hear it or not.

"Why should I? These people are idiots! Gatō is invincible; he will just kill anyone who gets in his way!" Inari shouted, tears coming to his eyes. Naruto rolled his eyes and answered passively.

"Kid you have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. Let me ask you something, is Gatō a god?" Naruto asked as he stopped eating and narrowed his eyes at the boy. The boy was about to respond but the piercing blue eyes Naruto was staring at him with seemed to freeze him solid. Kakashi shuddered as he saw what Naruto was doing.

"_That's the same look sensei use to give us when we were acting like children… to see Naruto do it on a kid, he's so much like sensei is unbelievable." _Kakashi thought to himself. Inari had managed to muster some courage as he balled his fists and answer.

"No but he-" Inari started as Naruto nodded his head as he cut the child off.

"Can Gatō bleed?" Naruto asked. Inari was shaking, how dare this guy come into his home and blatantly ask him these stupid questions!

"Yes, but you can't-" He was cut off once again as Naruto suddenly stood up from his seat and glared at Inari releasing some killing intent to frighten and shut the ignorant child up.

"Then he can die, and I'm not leaving this country all the life leaves his body." Naruto said coldly as he headed for the door, however before he could turn the handle to leave, Inari exploded, tears streaming down his face.

"Who the hell do you think you are coming in here and acting like you're so tough? Your nothing compared to Gatō! He'll kill you before you even know it! You come here acting all so dam high and mighty, thinking to you can accomplish anything, you have no idea what true suffering is you bastard!" Inari screamed. Naruto froze along with Kakashi and Sakura, Sasuke wasn't paying much attention.

A wave of monstrous killing intent flooded the air making it almost hard for anyone to breath. Naruto turned around very slowly, his eyes blood red with a slit down the middle as he glared at Inari with un-found hatred.

"You little brat, you think I have no idea what suffering is? Who the hell are you to judge me when you have two caring adults waiting for you at home, caring for you, keeping a roof over your head? Unlike me, where whenever I get home, I'm greeted by a cold empty house with absolutely no one to help me. It's been like that for me for twelve years, even when I was your age, I came home and I had no one, nothing. I was beaten, ostracized, stabbed, cut and chased into the darkest pits of my village and beaten to an inch of my life every day on my birthday. You think I don't know what suffering is? Kid I've been living in hell for twelve years so don't think you've suffered more than me. At least you have parents to care for you!" Naruto growled before slamming the door on a shocked Inari and co.

Sakura was frozen in shock. He had been though much more than Sasuke, Naruto had no one from the beginning, from day one he was alone, but things were going to change now. Kakashi felt guilty and saddened by what Naruto had just said. If he had known that Naruto was sensei's son he would have gladly taken the boy in. He had failed Minato, but now he was going to make up for it.

Sasuke just mentally scoffed.

"_Dobe thinks he knows what it's like to suffer? Try having your family killed right in front of your eyes by your own brother. I am a true avenger, destined to follow the path of hatred and darkness."_ Sasuke said coolly in his head.

The rest of Inari's family was shocked, including the boy. All Inari could think about was how Naruto had managed to turn out the way he had after all he had been though. Without knowing how to respond to any of this, Inari turned and headed out the other door, slamming it on his way, tears streaming down his cheeks.

Naruto had just gone outside, walking deep into the forest, trying to calm down his nerves. He hadn't been sure when the last time he had been this pissed off at someone. Some of Kurama's bad influence was starting to creep into system. He had been caught off guard by Inari's remark to where he almost blew his top at the kid.

"_It's okay, the kid didn't know who you are, he was just assuming that since I was a ninja that I have had a good life." _Naruto thought trying to reason with himself. He waited for his tenant to put in a few good words as well, but it looked like the giant fuzz ball was sleeping, much to Narutos' dismay.

Frustrated with how the night was playing out, Naruto summoned a couple of Kage Bunshin as he attacked relentlessly as he practiced to perfect his Taijutsu style. He had made a style of his own, to suite his own preference to fighting in hand to hand combat.

He called it _Kitsune Kata (Fox Style)_. This Taijutsu was mainly used for quick means of disabling and fast killing. It aimed at all the pressure points and vulnerable unguarded areas that when Naruto would strike on those areas, he would push either his or Kurama's chakra into the designated area.

If he used his chakra, it would be used to disable an enemy rather than to kill, if he used Kurama's chakra, it would be to kill and shut down the enemy. If he was to use both, with his mixed chakra, it would be aimed to destroy a certain part of the body, for example, if he aimed for a lung, with his and Kurama's chakra combined and landed the hit, the power behind the hit would be strong enough to rupture or completely ravage the lung. A hit like this to the temple would cause instant death.

You could say that the style is similar to the Hyūga's Gentle Fist, but instead of shutting off chakra pathways, this style is aimed to physically disable. Naruto was quite proud of himself when he came up with it about a year ago. Kurama had told him that the academy style was pathetic and that he should either ask around for a new one or create one himself. Naruto choose the latter, seeing it to be more of a challenge.

After Naruto was done decimating his shadow clones for about two hours, he sat down to catch a breather. He had gotten some of the anger out of his system, it really helped that his clones were also angry as well since they were apart of him, so they came at him ready to pulverize. Naruto had built up quite a sweat as he sat down for a short rest before he would return to the house.

He found that it was very peaceful as he looked at the stars. It was night time and very quiet… almost _too_ quiet. He couldn't hear any crickets chirping or owls hooting. Even the insects had gone quiet, and that meant only one thing to Naruto as he closed his eyes to extend his senses.

He was not alone.

As he extended his senses, he found that it proved to be pointless as he was suddenly showered by a barrage of kunai. Naruto vanished with a simple hand seal. Using Shunshin, he appeared only meters away to see that where he had been sitting at, preferably the bottom of a tree near its trunk was covered in black kunai.

Suddenly he was surrounded by what seemed to be around twelve ninja, all had a steady hand seal. If he moved, every ninja around him would burn him to death. Luckily Naruto's hand was already on a Hiraishin Kunai that he had in his Ninja-pouch. One of the ninja in the ground approached, it was by the light of the moon that Naruto was able to see what village these ninja were from.

"_Iwagakure… what the hell are they doing here?"_ Naruto thought, cursing to himself. He remembered that his father had made enemies and Iwa was one of the villagers that hated the man the most. Naruto was sweating visibly. This was the first time he had been in a situation like this, and he had to get out of it, otherwise he was going to die. He would use Bijuu mode only if he had to.

An Iwa ninja stood a few feet away from him had approached him, looking at him with his volcanic eyes.

"Genin of Konoha, you will come with us peacefully to the Tsuchikage, or you will die right there where you stand,_ son of the Flash._" The man ordered. Naruto bit his lip as his eyes darted around, looking for a weak point in their formation. They were all lined perfectly; their Katon jutsu's ready to fire if he even moved a single muscle. Naruto's eyes shifted uncomfortably as a bead of sweat rolled off his forehead.

"So you're from Iwa huh? I thought Konoha and Iwa had come to some sort of understanding? Taking me would be an act against Konoha and no doubt another war would start up again." Naruto said carefully as he eyes the Iwa shinobi. The Iwa Nin scoffed and spat at the ground beneath Naruto's feet.

"We wouldn't care if another war started up, as long as anything to do with _that man_ is dead or is in our capable hands, we have no problems. You are his son, Namikaze Naruto; our spies within Konoha have confirmed this and have relayed it to us for confirmation. Tsuchikage-sama has ordered us to capture you and bring you in either dead or alive and if we don't succeed it would be highly dishonorable! This is an S-ranked mission; failure to us is execution or exile." The Iwa Nin said. Naruto tensed, he wasn't getting out of this without a fight. No doubt every single ninja here is elite Jounin level.

Naruto's eyes darted round the Jounin level shinobi; he could actually feel the tenseness of the situation unfolding. This was a do or die mission for them, no doubt the Tsuchikage wanted everything that had to do with his father to be erased from this world never to be seen again, so he's obviously picked a number of his best ranked shinobi and sent them on a mission that was either a capture and return mission or a suicide mission. Naruto's eyes softened as he closed them.

"I'm very sorry to hear that, however I have no intention of going to Iwagakure any time soon…" Naruto said slowly. All the ninja around him tensed a bit, even the one standing in front of him.

"So I guess were just going to have to FIGHT!" Naruto said as he flung a Hiraishin kunai straight into the air above him. In that instant, all the ninja around him let off their Katon jutsu's as they flew at Naruto.

Naruto flashed into the air and grabbed the Kunai, making a few hand seals he yelled as he looked down at the ground of elite Iwa Nin.

"_Fūton: Ooinaru Shindou (Wind Release: Great Impact)!"_ Naruto said as he blew out of a stream of fast travelling wind right into the centre of the fiery explosion, the wind headed down in the shape of a fist as it slammed into the ground, causing a mini-earthquake. With the added wind, the fire grew larger and more powerful.

The wind release hit the ground, causing it to spread out in a circular fashion with the flames of the Katon jutsus that were used. This caught two Jounin off guard, as the flame covered winds crashed into them, downing them instantly; the other ten Jounin managed to escape just in time.

Naruto quickly threw all four of his Hiraishin Kunai, using Kage Bunshin and producing three clones and forming a Rasengan on each clone in less than two seconds. The three clones including the real Naruto each flashed to one of the Hiraishin kunai's, picking them up and slamming a the Rasengan into an Iwa Jounin that each Hiraishin Kunai happened to fly passed.

Six down in less than twenty seconds, and the rest of the Iwa ninja had only just realised what had happened. In no more than twenty seconds had he taken out, not killed but taken out six of their comrades.

They were starting to feel an intense pressure as their chances of winning dropped by a full fifty percent. They had to keep reminding themselves that they were dealing with the son of the Yellow Flash here, and he knew all of his jutsu's which made him just as dangerous.

The three Kage Bunshin puffed out as Naruto landed on the ground, instantly turning to another lone Iwa Jounin who stood by himself. Naruto made a few quick hand seals.

"_Fūton: Renkūdan (Wind Release: Drilling Air Bullet)!_" Naruto said as once again a bullet of air shot out from his mouth at inhuman speeds. The Iwa Jounin was almost caught off guard as he made his own hand seals before calling out before the wind jutsu could hit him.

"_Doton: Doryūheki (Earth Release: Mud Wall)!"_ The Iwa Jounin called out as the Doton rose up to defend its caster from the powerful wind jutsu that Naruto had launched. The wind jutsu had collided with the wall of earth, the earth had shattered but not all the way through proving that the defense had succeeded, however the lone Iwa Jounin had not seen the Hiraishin kunai fly just over his head a few seconds later. The last thing he heard was:

"_Rasengan!"_ Naruto shouted as he flashed above the Iwa Jounin and slammed him into the ground with the Rasengan, shattering all the man's ribs and flattening his organs. The Iwa Jounin spat out blood as he collided with the ground, dead from the attack. Naruto landed breathing quite heavily from using up some of his chakra. He regained his breath about a few seconds later as he jumped back into his personal Taijutsu stance and waited for an attack.

Soon enough, two more Iwa Nin engaged Naruto in a Taijutsu battle, something that Naruto was actually forced into defense in. It was now that Naruto was smacked around a fair bit as he was cut a few times across his face with a few kunai that the two Iwa Nin were holding. Naruto jumped back, pulling in some of Kurama's chakra to give him a little bit better reaction time, speed and power. He was using about three percent of Kurama's chakra to give him the upper hand however, all the Iwa Jounin didn't notice the Biju's chakra, and they just felt Naruto's chakra increase in density.

Naruto jumped right back into the battle as he attacked the two Iwa Nin; he disabled the first one in a matter of seconds, leaving the female Iwa Nin crumpling to the ground, unconscious because of the amount of pressure she was put under by Naruto using his _Kitsune Kata_. Her whole body had gone limp and numb before she fell to the ground, unconscious from the rapid assault.

Naruto then sped towards the other Iwa shinobi who had been attacking him in Taijutsu, being now put of the defense as Naruto continued the assault. Naruto managed to finally slip through his defenses, pushing the man off balance and sending a Kurama, chakra-infested hook to the temple, killing the man almost instantly.

As Naruto finished off, the last three capable Iwa shinobi jumped down from their hiding places, they all wore blatant hatred on their face, Naruto scowled at them.

"Don't look at me like that, you attacked me first, this is self-defense. Leave now before I kill you three as well, and take your injured and dead with you. If you do that, I might forget about this whole ordeal and not mention this to Hokage-sama." Naruto lied. He had no intention of not telling the Hokage about this. This was serious business, he had been attacked by Iwa and Hokage-Jiji should know about it. One of them snarled.

"Don't think that were cowards, you bastard. You are a dead man, we will not forget this." One of them snarled as all three of them vanished, and in seconds, all that was left around Naruto was the signs of a hard battle.

All the bodies, both dead and critically injured had vanished. Naruto breathed a sigh as he extended his senses to see if they had left. He was happy when he found that he felt no one around him for about a mile.

With a shaky breath, Naruto leaped back through the trees, right back to the house to inform Kakashi of what had just transpired. The silver haired Jounin was going to want to hear about this.

* * *

Naruto came to a stop as he arrived at the house. He sensed Kakashi inside on the top floor. He jumped up to a window and inside the room; Kakashi was on the floor, lying on his futon reading his perverted Icha book.

Naruto gently tapped on the window with his knuckles. Kakashi looked over and saw who it was. He saw Kakashi sigh as he got up from his futon and put his book down, walking over and opening the window for Naruto.

The blonde jumped in and with a few steps crashed on a chair. Kakashi narrowed his eyes, Naruto shouldn't have been this tired by just exercising his anger, at least he would be a little puffed but Naruto looked like he had been in a scruff! He had cuts all over him, he was bruised and battered, and some parts of his clothes were ripped. Kakashi narrowed his eyes further.

"What happened Naruto? You look like you just pushed your way out of a coffin." Kakashi said casually. Naruto breathed in and out as he turned to face Kakashi, his whisker marks and cheeks were smeared with sweat and dirt.

"I was attacked." Naruto said. Kakashi's eyes widened as his posture turned serious as he turned and went and looked out the window, making sure Naruto wasn't followed or to see if there were any approaching threats.

"Attacked? Was it Zabuza?" Kakashi said as he continued to stare out the window. Naruto shifted uncomfortably, he knew Kakashi wasn't going to like this.

"No… It was worse." Naruto said. Kakashi turned to Naruto with his eyes narrowed, what could have been worse than Zabuza right now? Did Gatō hire S-Ranked missing Nin? If that was the case they were really in trouble.

"Who was it then?" Kakashi didn't have to wait for an answer.

"It was a group of Iwagakure Jounin, about twelve of them and they surrounded me in an attempt to capture me." Naruto said as he observed Kakashi's reaction. The silver haired Scarecrow almost had a heart attack!

What was Iwa ninja doing… here of all places? Then his mind clicked to one of the only possible reasons why… Naruto! How could they know he was the son of Minato-sensei? Unless they had traitors among their ranks in Konoha… but only very few people know that secret.

"Naruto are you completely sure about that? If what you're saying is true we could possibly have another war situation on our hands!" Kakashi almost yelled. He was panicking; he knew Sasuke and Sakura wouldn't be ready for something at this level. He was going to get some more information out of Naruto first before he made any serious decisions.

"They said it was an S-class capture mission set by the Tsuchikage to capture me and return me to Iwagakure for kami-sama knows what. They all attacked me at once; I had to use Hiraishin to combat them. I killed about three or four maybe, rest are injured, and only three are unharmed. I told them to flee and they did." Naruto explained. Kakashi narrowed his eyes.

This mission has the possibility to be turned S-rank if those Iwa Nin attack again. Kakashi almost sighed, a C-rank mission gone A-rank, now could go S-rank at any time. Shit what bad luck Team Seven must have.

Kakashi made a few hand seals bit his thumb drawing blood and slamming his palm into the ground.

"_Kuchiyose no Jutsu! (Summoning Technique)"_ Kakashi said as a large puff of smoke exploded in front of both Naruto and Kakashi. Where the puff of smoke had come up, when it cleared stood a pack of Ninken, in front of the pack stood a pug with a Konoha Hitai-ate.

"Yo, Kakashi, why have you summoned us?" The dog said. Naruto raised his eyes at the outcome of the summoning technique Kakashi had used. It would be quite useful to have one of those; he would have to look into getting one of his own.

"Pakkun, Naruto here was attacked by Iwa Jounin; I need you to track the scent of those Iwa Nin if you can and see where they went and then report back to me. After you have done that, report to Hokage-sama and tell him exactly what happened to Naruto here." Kakashi ordered. Pakkun nodded.

"Got it." The pug said lazily before it and its pack disappeared out of the window to follow the scent the Iwa Jounin left behind. Kakashi turned to Naruto and smiled.

"Are you alright Naruto? They didn't manage to cripple you or anything did they?" Kakashi asked with an eye smile. Naruto snorted and turned away in arrogance, but then turned back with a confident smile.

"Na, they didn't hurt me. I'm just kind of tired that's all. They forced me to use the Hiraishin, Kage Bunshin and Rasengan all at the same time. The Rasengan was a little sloppy on the clones and myself but after a little bit of use I saw how the technique actually worked. I adjusted a little and when I used it next I actually killed one of them with it." Naruto breathed out in a sigh. Kakashi looked at his student with pride.

"I also used some Fūton jutsu. I can see what you mean by your affinities are naturally stronger, I know a few Katon, and a couple of Raiton and no Suiton or Doton, but I can certainly tell that when I use Fūton that its much strong and feels more in tune than the other elements." Naruto continued further. Kakashi was quite impressed which what Naruto had just told him. He was a fast learner that was very much clear.

"I'm impressed Naruto, you managed to hold your own against _twelve _Iwa Jounin, that is something that even I would have trouble doing, even with my Sharingan, you should consider yourself very lucky and skilled to be able to do that. You will definitely pass for Chuunin; I'm still confused as to why you were put into a Genin cell to begin with, you far too skilled for Genin let alone Chuunin." Kakashi said. Naruto blushed at the praise.

"Aw jeez Kakashi-sensei, I like being a Genin, I got to be friends with Sakura and I get to be on the same level as the other decent Genin my age. I also get to have my dad's student as my teacher!" Naruto said with a grin. Kakashi shook his head in amusement.

"Oh Naruto, sometimes you are just too nice for your own good. You're too modest! You did a great job tonight, now go get cleaned up and head to bed, it's very early in the morning." Kakashi said with an eye smile as he ushered Naruto to the door. In truth, he just wanted to get back to his book; he had just come to the good part until he was interrupted by Naruto.

"Alright Kakashi-sensei, I'll go…" Naruto said with a way as he headed towards the shower, he really needed to get cleaned up, he was a mess. As the door closed, Kakashi raced back to his futon where he dive rolled into his bed and picked up his book and started reading again. He giggled perversely as he turned the page.

"_Oh Jiraiya-sama, this is a work of art! I don't care how many times I've read this issue, its gold!"_ Kakashi said as he giggled even more, even going red under his black shinobi mask that he wore even in bed.

* * *

_Meanwhile, hours earlier at Gatō's secret hideout…_

Zabuza and Haku, who happened to be the hunter Nin watching Zabuza's confrontation from the shadows had just arrived back at the rich business man's headquarters. The two Kirigakure missing nin sat down in their designated rooms in deep thought. Zabuza was under intense pressure, they were in some serious trouble, and to the point where he didn't think even he would be able to take on both Kakashi and the Yellow Flash's brat at the same time.

As Zabuza was thinking about his current situation, an unwanted and unneeded man walked into the room with two of his bodyguards. The man growled as Zabuza and Haku glared at the man with hatred.

"What's the matter Zabuza? You look troubled; did you do what I asked of you?" The shot stubby man had asked. Zabuza glared at him.

"There were..._ complications_." Zabuza said as Gatō growled and stepped forward to yell at Zabuza. The man had gone red with anger, when he asked something to be done, he expected it to be done and that was final, there were no buts or ifs to anything, it was get it done and move on, so when Zabuza had said there were _complications_, he didn't exactly take it very well.

"What the hell do you mean there were complications!? You're supposed to get the work done, not say there were complications! What the hell do I pay you people for!?" Gatō practically screamed at Zabuza and Haku. The demon of the mist growled as he turned back at the short stubby, fat business man.

"Do you have any idea who is with that bridge builder? That bridge builder must have paid a truck load to get some one _Kakashi of the Sharingan _and _Konoha no Kiiroi Senk__ō_'s son to guard him. Do you have any idea what that man did to end the third shinobi world war? He used one technique, ONE, and it killed more than four hundred Iwa and Kumo shinobi in a _flash_. And that kid knows the same technique, if I had anything to say, even as the demon of the mist, if I go up against those two, me and Haku are dead meat. Face it Gatō that bridge is getting built, and with those guys around, there isn't anything you can do to stop it." Zabuza said honestly. Haku was quite shocked to hear Zabuza say something like that, it wasn't like to him admit something like that so easily.

Gatō on the other hand was fuming at what Zabuza had said, he was a millionaire, he could buy anything, he could _do_ anything with the kind of money he had. He was going red at Zabuza's words. He walked forward but found himself meeting the end of Zabuza's blade; he could see the Demon of the hidden mists grin under the bandages. The short fat man gulped loudly as he saw Zabuza smile.

"But that doesn't mean we're not going to try. Two days from now, I will go and attempt it, but with the Yellow Flash's kid and Kakashi of the Sharingan on their side, I highly doubt I will win, but it's a good way to die anyway." Zabuza said as he got up. Haku was wide eyed, her teacher, her father figure was so brave, to walk towards death with such a view on it, it gave her courage, she would do anything to help Zabuza.

"Zabuza-sama, I will follow you anywhere." Haku said as she got up and walked after Zabuza. The demon stopped for a moment, considering her words for a second. He had always thought if he had raised Haku the right way, but something deep down was telling him to let her go, she was too gentle, too caring, at his side, she didn't exactly belong there.

Zabuza sighed as he started off again, to train for his possible last few days of his life; he was going to go out with a bang, which was for sure.

* * *

_Hours after Naruto and Kakashi had talked about Iwa_

_In Iwagakure…_

The Tsuchikage sat at his desk, filling away paperwork, the number one enemy of a Kage and he knew they were suffering just as much as he was right now as every other Kage sat behind their respectful desks with mountains of paperwork being shoved in their faces.

The old fence sitter was on edge as he had not long ago, given the go ahead for the capture order on one Namikaze Naruto, and he was waiting for the carrier hawk to arrive to tell him of the good news or the bad news. In all honesty, if this was _that man's _son, he wasn't expecting anything but bad news, and just like he had expected, it had arrived in a scroll, carried by an emergency hawk. Ōnoki unsealed the scroll and hesitantly read it.

After a few seconds, Ōnoki sighed as his hands balled into fists. Four of his top Jounin were dead, another five were injured and three were unharmed. He sighed as he signed the mission failure. He had really hoped that the mission could have gone well, but of course, the son of the Yellow Flash knew the Hiraishin no jutsu much to his dismay. He also knew the Rasengan and was a Jounin or above level ninja, despite only having the rank of Genin.

After a few minutes of thinking, Ōnoki got out a slip of paper and began writing down details on it. After half an hour of double checking details and seeing that they were right, he smiled at his work; if this wasn't enough he didn't know what was.

The paper read:

*****Bingo Book Entry***:**

**Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto (_Konoha no Tsugi Kiiroi Senk_****_ō)_ – Son of Namikaze Minato and an unknown Uzumaki clan member and legal aligned Konoha Shinobi.**

**Age:**

_Twelve – Thirteen_

**Last known position:**

_ Land of the Waves_

**Current Shinobi Rank:**

_ Genin_

**Threat Level:**

_A-S Class_

**Known Abilities: **

_He is seen and reported to have used the famed Hiraishin no Jutsu, Rasengan, Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, and has a wind affinity. He is talented in Taijutsu and has created his own style of which is unknown or unnamed. His Taijutsu style is aimed to disable or kill depending on the density of his chakra implemented into the strikes. He is cunning, smart and deadly. He has or hasn't been reported to have used any Genjutsu, so expect the unexpected if encountered._

**Known Appearance:**

_He is seen to wear black shinobi pants and an orange and black striped shirt with a black fishnet undershirt. He also wears black shinobi sandals, he has blonde hair and three whisker marks on each cheek. He also wears a version of the Yondaime Hokage's trench coat that is white and has black flames around the edges, no doubt to honor his legacy. He is 150cm in height._

**Recommended Action if Encountered:**

_If encountered your recommended choice is to flee on sight and wait for tactical support. **DO NOT** attempt to fight alone, he is incredibly dangerous and his mastery in Hiraishin no Jutsu is not to be underestimated! Order of action is to **FLEE ON SIGHT**._

**_***End Entry***_**

Ōnoki smiled at his work, that little nuisance wouldn't be allowed to hide any longer. It was getting closer to the end of the month anyway and the new bingo books were going to be issued. Soon the entire Shinobi world will know of the Yellow Flash's son, and they would all be after him, he was still a child after all, so may hunter Nin were going to hunt this boy for a challenge since there was no Ryo bounty because the boy had done nothing wrong.

The old fence sitter sat back in his Kage chair as he looked at the ceiling, he hated the Yellow Flash for everything that man was worth, but he was smart, he was not a fool to go charging in there and declaring war on Konoha, no he would wait for this to play out and see where things go from there. Ōnoki also smiled at another knew thought that would be interesting.

The chuunin exams were coming up and no doubt this boy would be participating in them with his skill level. He would crush every team he would come by, so for the sake of keeping his Genin alive, he was going to decline all requests to participate in this year's chuunin exam. Plus the exam was held in the very village that Iwa had the worst relationship with. Konoha, they would be fighting the boy on his home turf!

There was one thing that the old fence sitter was sure about though, if that boy wasn't dealt with by the time he grows into an adult, he would only improve and become the most deadly shinobi to ever walk this earth except for the Rikudou Sennin himself. The boy would later be classed an SS-Class shinobi just like his father, and then he would truly be feared.

The future had a lot in store, and Ōnoki just hoped it would prove good for Iwagakure.

* * *

It was two days later that something actually happened around the Wave country. Sakura had almost got water walking down after a few days of practice. Sasuke eventually managed to get tree climbing down and was starting on water walking while Naruto monitored their progress. Kakashi was guarding Tazuna while at the same time; he and his Ninken summons were still searching for any sign of the Iwa shinobi that attacked Naruto a while ago.

While all this was happening, Naruto was also working on his Nature manipulation, still attempting to cut the leaf further than he already had. He had managed to cut it a full half way in the time that they were here. It was a frustrating task that was for sure, but Kakashi said that his Fūton jutsu would be much stronger by the time he had finished.

Naruto sighed as he dispelled all four hundred of his clones as he sat down clutching his head sorely at all the memory and knowledge assaulting his brain at the same time. Kurama scolded him for being so careless, as he blew out some oxygen from his lungs. He was getting tired.

"Hey guys we've been at this for hours now, I think we should call it a day and head back to Tazuna's house. I'm going back; maybe you guys should go up and see if Kakashi-sensei needs any help with the bridge." Naruto suggested.

Sakura nodded as she got off the water and onto the sand bank along with Sasuke, he just huffed in annoyance but didn't say anything. Naruto scowled but didn't comment. Instead he got up and brushed himself off and left leaving Sakura and Sasuke to walk to the bridge on they're own.

When Naruto got back, he crashed on the couch and closed his eyes, letting himself fall into his inner world. He wanted to give his old fuzz ball some company. When he got there, he was once again standing in front of the giant cage with a piece of paper hanging over it with the kanji for 'Seal' on it. He sighed as he walked into the cage and jumped on to Kurama's back and lay down, the fox grumbled.

"**What do you want; I was having a nice little snooze here until you decided to jump on my back."** Kurama mumbled as the nine tails behind him swished and swayed behind the large kitsune. Naruto let out a breath and smiled, Kurama's fur was so warm, and maybe it was because he was made of chakra, besides it was so dam cold in his mindscape anyway.

"I was just coming to see if you wanted some company, it must get awfully lonely in this cage, man I wish I could change this place! It's so cold and slimly, don't you hate it here?" Naruto said, Kurama growled.

**"Of course I hate it here baka. I hate it in this cage; I would rather be free of it and lend you my full power so I could feel what is like to be outside again. Plus I do hate it in here, but it's improved the past few years."** Kurama said as Naruto's eyebrow quirked at the comment.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked, Kurama grumbled to himself.

**"It means as long as you keep things that make you happy and enjoy life, you inner world or mindscape will gradually change over time. Remember this place is a reflection of what your life has been like. You can't just up and change it because you think that you can. Once you find your place in this world and once all those people in the village respect you, this place will change… look, on the walls, there are cracks starting to form."** Kurama said observing the walls.

Naruto sat up and looked towards the walls outside the cage and inside, and surely enough, there were small cracks starting to form with small rays of light shining through them and reflecting off the dirty water. When looking at the light Naruto felt something, it was a sort of emotion, was it love? Was it respect? He couldn't quite place his finger on it. Kurama smiled softly as he felt Naruto's conflicting emotions as he tried to figure out what the light meant.

"Hey you're right… what a strange light." Naruto said as he got up and jumped through the cage to examine the cracks of light. Through the tiny cracks, he couldn't see much but it looked like Konoha from what he was looking at. It was quite strange indeed and Naruto didn't exactly know why he was staring at Konoha of all places. Then he saw it, his face was on the Hokage Mountain, next to his fathers. Through the tiny gap he saw what he wanted his future to be.

Naruto stepped away from the wall and sighed as he wiped away a tear, he would have really liked to meet his father, just once. Maybe to punch him in the stomach for putting such a burden on him in the first place, but then thank him for it at the same time since it was Kyuubi who became his first real friend, some on that helped him succeed and pushed him, otherwise he wouldn't be where he was today.

Naruto sighed and turned to Kurama who smiled with his head still rested on his paws, he generally enjoyed Naruto's company, he was reminded somewhat of the Sage when he looked at Naruto, they both had the same look to them, both had the same smile and even the same _look_ in their eyes, even if the two didn't share the same eyes.

"Looks like I should go, I need to go catch up with Kakashi-sensei, Sakura and Sasuke-teme on the bridge, see if they need any help in getting the bridge to build faster." Naruto said as he waved to Kurama before vanishing from his mindscape.

"**I'm going back to sleep."** Kurama muttered to himself as he closed his eyes.

When Naruto woke up, he found that about three hours had passed, but what really woke him up was the large chakra expulsion coming from the direction of the bridge. Naruto jumped up and ran out of the house to see what was going on, only to find both Inari and Tsunami crawling away from two large men carrying a sword and they were both grinning.

Naruto was in front of them in an instant glaring at them. The men stopped in their tracks and snarled at the boy.

"Great, I thought the ninja were at the bridge, Gatō won't be happy if we don't get what he asked for." One of the men said pulling out his sword and charging Naruto. Naruto wasted no time in downing the two henchmen before they even knew what hit them, they were falling into the water at the side and sinking to the bottom with wounds and cuts all over them.

In one hand Naruto held a bloody Kunai as he walked over to where Inari and Tsunami where. Inari smiled as he ran over and gave Naruto a giant hug.

"Thank you so much Naruto-nii-san!" Inari said with a large smile on his face. Naruto grinned as he ruffled the boy's hair; the boy had obviously gotten over his mood because he was now being nice to him instead of being a brat. Someone must have talked to him about Naruto's life, presumably Kakashi.

"What's going on, I just woke-" Naruto was cut off as his head snapped towards the location of the bridge; he felt another huge influx of chakra being expelled. He saw that the bridge was covered in mist. Naruto cursed as he turned to Inari and Tsunami.

"Sorry, I have to run, looks like the fighting has started." Naruto said as he turned and took off sprinting towards the bridge. Inari grinned as he watched Naruto sprint off to save the day, just like what Kakashi-san had told the boy, he had told him that for as long as Naruto lived, the Yondaime's legacy would live to change this world.

"Go get them Naruto-nii-san! Save my oji-san and beat the bad guys!" Inari yelled after Naruto. The blonde turned as he was sprinting and gave thumbs up before making a hand seal and vanishing via Shunshin.

As Naruto sped towards the bridge, he cursed slightly as he should have given Kakashi a Hiraishin kunai so he could have been their instantly, instead he has to get there as fast as possible on foot! He cursed his bad luck as he continued to speed through the forest.

As he closed in, he could see the bridge up ahead until two figures blocked his path. Naruto stopped dead on a tree branch as he looked at the two figures. It was quite strange, they were clearly ninja, but they wore strange clothes.

The two people that were standing in his way where wearing black robes with red clouds on them, and one of them had a Konoha Hitai-ate with a line through it to clarify that he was a missing Nin. The other one was a rather taller man with blue skin and shark teeth, a large noticeable feature about this man was the rather large sword on his back. Naruto cursed slightly, but his eyes widened when he caught sight of the _red eyes_ the other man had.

Naruto shifted on the balls of his feet, he had no idea who the other guy was but he was certain that the man with the Konoha Hitai-ate was none other than Uchiha Itachi, the infamous S-Class missing Nin who murdered his entire clan and left Sasuke alive, and the bane of Sasuke's existence. Naruto cursed heavily under his breath at his terrible bad luck these past few days.

"_Oh come on! Are you fucking serious? What the hell is Uchiha Itachi doing here!? And what's with the other guy? He has chakra reserves the size of mountains! Why do I keep running into people that seem to want to kill me?"_ Naruto thought as Kurama woke up at the sound of Itachi's name. Itachi smiled at Naruto.

"Hello Naruto-kun, are you going somewhere?" The Missing Uchiha said with a stoic amused tone. Naruto tensed, waiting for a sign of battle. Kurama then shouted in his head a warning.

**_"Naruto! Don't look into his eyes! He'll trap you in a Genjutsu!"_** Kurama warned. Naruto instantly looked at Itachi's midsection avoiding the raven haired man's eyes. Naruto was starting too sweat, he had a feeling that they were here for him, and him going up against two S-Class criminals was not exactly sitting well on Naruto's mental state. Naruto swallowed before answering the man's question.

"I was heading towards the bridge… why?" Naruto said as the young blonde Jinchuriki narrowed his eyes at the two obvious missing Nin. Itachi smiled as Naruto began to sweat visibly, he hated it when people gave him that kind of smile. It was a smile that told him he was fucked and there was nothing he could do or say to get out of it.

"That's a shame Naruto-kun, but I'm afraid you will not be going any further. You see, Kisame and I here were sent to capture you. So I'm afraid you will be leaving here with us, please do not make this difficult, I'd rather avoid a conflict." Itachi said with a persuading voice. Kisame scoffed.

"Speak for yourself Itachi-chan, I wouldn't mind a good fight if I was offered one." Kisame said itching to grab his overly large sword and start swinging it around. Naruto swallowed hard. Why was it that he had such bad luck when it came to fighting ridiculously strong shinobi?

"Oh boy, I feel very special. What could I possibly have that's so important, for you to have been sent all the way over here to capture me for?" Naruto asked hesitantly, he was wary of their answer. Itachi seemed to smile more that his question.

"You contain something that has great value to our leader, we have been sent to subdue you at all costs." Naruto's sweat grew cold along with his blood, Kurama growled as it was now obvious that they were after the giant fox that Naruto contained.

"**Naruto… I don't like this, they have been sent here by someone that knows you're a Jinchuriki, which means they are prepared for situations for when Jinchuriki's power goes out of control and the Bijuu ends up taking over. No doubt the one with the large chakra reserves is the power house, the Uchiha is the strategist."** Kurama observed closely. Naruto nodded mentally but then smirked.

"_However, we're a team, and I don't think they are prepared for a two man team."_ The blonde grinned mentally but kept his outside face to a stoic stare as he watched the twos movements. Kurama grinned as well.

**"Yes, it is common that Jinchuriki and their Bijuu do not get along, however we are a special case, they will not be expecting it. Go at them with everything you got, because if you hold back, they will get you. I'll send you the full forty percent."** Kurama said as Naruto's eyes narrowed at Itachi and Kisame.

"So you two are after the Kyuubi then?" Naruto said as Itachi nodded and Kisame grinned. Naruto scowled as he lowered his head, hiding his eyes. Itachi raised an eyebrow. Naruto raised his head again, this time with a blood thirsty smirk.

"Well you two are going to have to work for it, because Kyuubi and I aren't going anywhere!" Naruto as he slammed his hands together instantly entering _Bijuu mode_. Before the two even knew what had hit them, Naruto shot forward, nailing Kisame right in the face. Itachi's eyes widened ever so slightly at the display of speed and sheer power Naruto had displayed.

Kisame flew backwards smashing against a tree and sliding down the ground, landing on his feet. Kisame shook the hit off him and cracked his neck slightly. The shark man grinned.

"That was a nice hit, that's some power gaki; I look forwards to crushing you!" Kisame said as he pulled his giant sword off his back. Naruto had jumped backwards to avoid a hit from Itachi, his eyes widening at Kisame.

"_Whoa! I nailed him with my hardest punch and he just shook it off! What the hell is that guy made off?" _Naruto thought to himself in shock. Kurama grumbled a little, that hit would have been ten times harder if Naruto had all of his power mixed with his own.

Kisame shot forward swinging madly at Naruto. The blonde blur dodged his hits easily as the blonde smirked to himself; he had figured out Kisame quickly, it was obvious what Naruto had that was much more than what Kisame had.

"_Kisame is powerful there's no doubt about that, but his speed is dwarfed by mine in this form, he can't touch me, I just have to worry about Itachi._" Naruto said as he continued to dodge the wild attempts to smack him around.

Kisame had managed to get a lucky hit in on Naruto's midsection, sending the blonde back fifty meters, crashing through tree branches and landing on the ground hard, and sending dirt everywhere. It was almost surprising at first, the sheer amount of power behind Kisame's blow almost felt like he had cracked Naruto's ribs!

"_Dam! What power! His strength is just as monstrous as his chakra! What was that though? On the contact I felt my chakra being… eaten?" _Naruto thought. Kisame grinned wildly as the shark man charged in once more for another assault.

Naruto got up and jumped backwards, forming a Rasengan in his hand with the help of a chakra arm. Kisame didn't seem to care as he lunged towards Naruto. Naruto dodged and when he slipped through the defense that Kisame had up, he managed to get the shark man in the shoulder.

"_Rasengan!"_ Naruto said as the Rasengan in Naruto's had exploded sending Kisame backwards, breaking tree branches and kicking up dirt as Kisame landed. The shark man winced as he held his shoulder while sitting up. His collar bone was fractured from that hit, it was a nasty blow from the little blonde, and he had underestimated the kid.

"Gaki is strong that's for sure, maybe the same as me." Kisame said with a little laugh as he stood up, his giant sword in his hands. Naruto kept a close eye on Itachi while his attention was focused on Kisame. Itachi was looking at Naruto with amazement and curiosity as he studied the blonde Jinchuriki's new form.

"_Strange, I thought Jinchuriki couldn't tap into their Biju's power unless they were put under emotional pain. I was going to use Tsukuyomi (Moon Reader) to bring out and observe Naruto's power, but it seemed that Naruto has formed some sort of bond with his Bijuu. It almost seems like Kyuubi is willingly letting Naruto-kun use its power… how fascinating."_ Itachi mused as the fight progressed on, neither Kisame nor Naruto making any headway in winning their fight.

Itachi then scowled a little as he now knew that this fight was pointless, they needed to be stronger if they were going to take down Naruto.

"Kisame, were leaving. Naruto-kun here is too strong for us we will come back when we are more prepared." Itachi said to Kisame, Naruto's eyes widened in confusion, while Kurama obviously didn't like what the Uchiha was doing. Kisame whined at Itachi for spoiling his fun.

"Itachi-chan, come on! Let me have some fun, I was just getting started! I can get the Nine Tails if you just let me! You know Pein-sama won't be happy if we return empty handed… plus we just met the gaki, I haven't even had five minutes to crack him yet!" Kisame said while Itachi closed his eyes and turned away from Kisame and turned to Naruto.

"Naruto-kun here is quite different than most of the other Jinchuriki we were told about. He seems to be in complete control of Kyuubi's chakra. It is dangerous to fight a Jinchuriki when the Jinchuriki itself has control over its Biju's chakra. You remember what Pein-sama said about the Hachibi's Jinchuriki, that job requires a four man team; clearly it is the same case for the Kyuubi's Jinchuriki as well. Pein-sama must know of this." Itachi said as he turned to face Naruto.

"We're leaving, good-bye Naruto-kun; I look forward to our next encounter." Itachi said as his form split into many crows and flew off. Kisame scoffed and pouted before his form collapsed in a puddle of water. Naruto frowned, keeping Bijuu mode on as he looked around for any signs of the two missing Nin. There presence had completely vanished. They had fallen back.

"_What the hell was that all about Kurama?"_ Naruto said deactivating Bijuu mode as he scratched the back of his head an annoyance. The Bijuu in his stomach growled slightly before explaining to Naruto what had just happened.

"**_That Uchiha observed you for a few minutes before figuring out that we were linked, and that you were capable of much more than you were letting on. He decided to fall back and wait for another opportunity to learn more about you. Expect the next time you meet for him to exploit all your weak areas."_** Kurama said. Naruto sighed to himself, why were so many people out to get him?

"_Gee, thanks dad, I have Iwagakure after me because of you and some group of people after me because you sealed Kurama inside of me! Did you hate me or something?"_ Naruto mentally pouted as a picture of Namikaze Minato appeared in his mind looking at him with an Uzumaki grin and thumbs up. Naruto sweat dropped and exhaled.

"_I better get to the bridge now, my friends need my help."_ Naruto thought as he took off towards the bridge.

* * *

After a few minutes, Naruto finally arrived at the bridge to find Sasuke out cold on the ground with a few ice senbon needles sticking out of him. Naruto sighed in disappointment knowing the Uchiha must have gone down in fighting for his pride and boasting his power. Naruto looked over to see Kakashi in a heated battle with Zabuza and Sakura was defending Tazuna from the hunter Nin Haku and she was on her last legs.

She looked like a pin cushion; she had ice needles sticking out of her everywhere. Tazuna stood with his fists in a ball, turning white; he was wishing he could do something.

In a dash, Naruto sped over to where Sakura was standing, and protectively stood in front of her before the hunter Nin could make the final strike to end her.

"This is as far as you go." Naruto said with a protective scowl. The hunter Nin jumped back and resumed a stance. Zabuza had told her to be extra careful with this boy; he was just as dangerous as Kakashi. Naruto got down in his _Kitsune Kata _stance as Sakura looked so glad to see him.

"Naruto, Where were you?" Sakura said weakly. Naruto turned his head slightly.

"I was held up by Sasuke-teme's brother, although he retreated just as fast as he attacked me." Naruto explained as he told her the short version of what happened. Sakura's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates.

"_Naruto-kun faced off against Itachi? Kami-sama is he okay? That man killed his entire family; he's an S-class missing Nin!"_ Sakura and inner Sakura exclaimed. Naruto stood in his stance in front of her protectively, she couldn't help but feel light headed, after all, most of her pressure points had been punctured and she was fighting just to stay conscious.

"Don't worry Sakura; I won't let this person hurt you anymore. This will end here." Naruto said as he shot forward into a fierce Taijutsu battle with Haku. They both twisted and turned, countered and dodged, neither of the two managed to land a single hit.

Naruto jumped back and so did Haku putting space between them. Naruto could tell from Haku's previous battles that she was already quite worn out and was pushing herself to the absolute limit just to keep herself unharmed from Naruto's attacks. Naruto's face softened as he decided to question this girls push to keep doing what she was doing.

"Why are you doing this? Why fight for Zabuza and kill for him? What you're doing here is wrong; you're hurting people that are trying to help free this country of that man's tyranny." Naruto stated simply. The girl shot forward without answering the question; ice senbons in between her fingers. Naruto dodged and evaded, each strike becoming easier to avoid as the girl was tiring faster than he was. His fight with Kisame was rough, it didn't last nearly long enough to tire him out before the two retreated.

As the girl threw for one more punch, Naruto actually caught the fist much to her surprise. Naruto's eyes narrowed as he studied the girls' body posture and how she was fighting. It didn't seem like to him that she was actually trying to kill him.

"Your slowing, you can't keep this up. I'm fresh, you're done for. Why keep fighting for the wrong cause?" Naruto asked again. The girl frowned behind her mask. This time he got an answer.

"I'll follow Zabuza-sama anywhere. He is my precious person and I will do anything I can to protect him." Haku stated. Naruto closed his eyes, now knowing what drove this girl to fight. He could now relate to her on a similar level. He did not have to kill her, only reason with her.

"I see, you fight for the people you care about?" Naruto said as he avoided more strikes, not wanting to fight back after what he had just heard, he would not harm someone who could barely touch him and was fighting for a legitimate reason such as her own.

"Zabuza-sama is the only person to have ever cared for me beside my mother. He picked me up and trained me; he taught me and protected me. He is my precious person and I will follow him anywhere." Haku said throwing another punch. Naruto caught her wrist and pushed her away. She frowned.

"You are much stronger than me, why have you not killed me yet?" Haku stated cautiously. Naruto smiled and shook his head.

"I could never kill someone who shares the same ideals as me; it goes against what I stand for." Naruto said. Haku raised an eyebrow as she turned and pointed towards Sasuke who was lying on the bridge full of her ice senbon needles.

"I killed one of your teammates, are you not angry?" To her surprise, Naruto shrugged and gave her a bored look.

"Sasuke-teme is an arrogant, self-fish, power hungry person, and the world has enough of those as it is, plus he's not dead, he's in a suspended animation state, you didn't kill him so don't tell me you did, because I know you didn't. By the way you are fighting, you are just like me, you aim to incapacitate, and only kill if given no other choice. Sasuke was weaker than you so you just knocked him out." Naruto said. Haku hummed to herself as she took off her mask.

"I see, you read me by my actions and the way I fight. I guess you're right. It's true I don't like to kill people, but for Zabuza-sama, I would do anything. He gave me a purpose to live and I shall live it out until the day of my death." She said, as Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"What purpose is that?" Naruto asked. Haku smiled slightly.

"To be his weapon." She said simply. Naruto scowled.

"That's a terrible reason to live. I could never think of myself as a weapon. My village would like to think of me as a weapon to be used against other villages, but I would never agree to do so be something like that… because I am Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto, and no one else, not a weapon and not a tool to be exploited. We are humans; we are not weapons, regardless of what profession we take up." Naruto said. She continued to stare at Naruto.

"I am Zabuza-sama's weapon; he saved my life and gave me a purpose to live. I do not know how else to live." Haku said honestly. Naruto felt bad for this girl, she was missing out on everything life had to offer. Naruto held out a hand.

"Then I can show you how to live." He said seriously, his blue eyes radiating confidence and trust as he gazed into Haku's eyes. She felt conflicted with her choices, she had also wanted to live normally, but after what Zabuza did for her, she could not simply turn her back on him like that. She shook her head, a stray tear dropping from her eye.

"I am sorry Naruto-san, but I cannot simply drop my restraints to Zabuza-sama, he has given me so much. I cannot turn my back on him now, even if he is a cold hearted killer and does the wrong things, I owe him my life." Haku said. Naruto's hand dropped as he smiled.

"That's… just what I had expected you to say." Naruto said with a smile. Haku had a look of confusion on her face. She tilted her head slightly at Naruto's remark.

"I… don't understand." She said, Naruto grinned.

"We all have our precious people. I can see that you really care for Zabuza, but you are not his weapon. Just by looking in your eyes I can say that you really care for the man and are ready to give your life for his at any time, that's what it means to be people like us. We have precious people to protect and we would protect them at the cost of our own lives. I respect that, but I can't let you kill Tazuna-san, I will stop you, but I won't kill you." Naruto said as he shot towards an off guard Haku.

Instead of hitting her, he flashed behind her and slapped something on to her back. Naruto placed a temporary chakra seal on her along with two other seals that sealed her body movements and her ability to control her body. She collapsed to her knees, struggling to move but her body just wouldn't respond.

"What did you do?!" Haku said struggling to even lift a finger. Naruto crouched down to eye level and looked her in the eyes. She looked absolutely exhausted from fighting both Sasuke and Sakura. She was far to beat to defend herself against Naruto.

"I sealed you off, you won't be going anywhere, and I'll make sure Kakashi-sensei doesn't kill Zabuza. I don't want you to die, but it would be cruel to keep you alive and then kill your precious person, I won't do that." Naruto said as he got up and walked over to where Sakura was standing, she had lost consciousness a while ago and Tazuna was busy pulling all the senbon out of her.

"Don't hurt her, she's incapable of defending herself, I'll deal with Zabuza now, just leave everything to me." Naruto said confidently as Tazuna looked up and smiled at Naruto.

"You got it, I'll take care of Sakura here." He said as he pulled the senbon out and applied pressure to the bleeding wounds. Naruto smiled and ran over to where Kakashi and Zabuza were fighting.

Naruto flashed to Kakashi's side. The Silver haired Jounin had lifted his Hitai-ate to reveal his fully matured Sharingan and he had been using it for a while now. Kakashi was breathing hard and so was Zabuza. The demon of the mist looked over to the blonde who was standing at Kakashi's side. He had just lost all chance of winning this battle.

"Dam… and I was so close as well Kakashi-san, I almost had you… guess I lose." Zabuza said as he dropped to his knees from exhaustion. Kakashi also fell but Naruto had managed to catch him. Kakashi smiled weakly.

"Where were you… Naruto? We could have used… your help a while ago." Kakashi breathed out, he closed his Sharingan eye to preserve the little chakra he had left. Naruto frowned.

"I was cut off by Uchiha Itachi and one other guy. They were wearing black robes with red clouds on them. They were after Kyuubi, I managed to fight them off and they retreated, I don't know for how long though, but I don't think they would be bothering us for now." Naruto said. Kakashi felt like laughing, first Zabuza, then Iwa and now Itachi as well? Naruto was a recipe for disaster, how wrong this simple C-Rank mission had gone.

"That's good to hear I guess, at least you're here now. Looks like me and Zabuza-san have come to some sort of stalemate, but with you here now I think I can safely say we have won." Kakashi said as Naruto put him down. Zabuza was sitting down as well; he didn't have the strength to get up. Suddenly, out of the mist came a cruel laughter, Zabuza cursed, he knew that fat-teme would stab him in the back.

"Well Zabuza, it looks like you have failed such a pity that I have to kill you and that little bitch. You see, the only reason I hire people like you is so I can kill you afterwards and no one would care! I could even cash in your bounty to the village that wants your head. So it's an extra bonus for me." A certain short fat man said as he walked through the mist with hundreds of thugs at his side.

"Gatō, you dam backstabbing traitor!" Zabuza sneered. Naruto turned to look over at all the thugs and the short fat man and scowled at the stupid looking midget.

"_So this is Gatō huh?"_ Naruto thought to no one in particular. Gatō laughed loudly snorting in the process as he grinned towards Zabuza and Haku and the injured ninja.

"Such kind words Zabuza! I'm touched." Gatō turned to his men and gave them a smile. "Kill them all, I want their heads on a platter." He said. All the thugs pulled out swords, knifes, rakes and spades… you name it they were going to use it as a weapon. Naruto scowled, he particularly hated men like Gatō. All the misery, the sickness, and the death this man had caused…

As the thugs charged to their obvious doom, Naruto spat and sneered as he pulled out his four trusty Hiraishin kunai and threw the four kunai into the small army of thugs. Each kunai landed in the middle of a group, effectively splitting the army into four even sections. All the thugs smiled obliviously as they stopped their advance towards the downed shinobi.

"Hey kid what are you aiming at?" One of the thugs said causing the entire army to laugh.

The next thing that happened was very strange to everyone on the bridge… something inside of Naruto snapped. Maybe it was his sanity, maybe it was something else but all of the stress this mission had piled on, first being attacked by Iwa, then being attack Itachi, he suddenly felt a primal instinct to slaughter, too become a predator, a blood-thirsty killer. He had so much built up aggression that he had to let it out somehow.

As it now happened, Naruto was out for blood.

Naruto donned a sadistic, evil, emotionless look on his face as he took out two regular kunai and held them so the sharp ends were facing downward to the ground. Kakashi watched with one wide eye, this was the first time he was going to actually witness the Hiraishin used on a group of people, just like Minato-sensei had when he ended the third great shinobi war with this very jutsu.

Before anyone could say a word, Naruto vanished in a yellow flash, appearing at the fourth Hiraishin kunai in less than a few seconds. His black regular kunai's were already covered in blood and torn flesh. In that instant, all the thugs dropped like dead weight as Zabuza, Kakashi, Tazuna and a now very scared Gatō watched, too shocked to say a word.

All the necks on the thugs were sliced deeply, almost like Naruto was aiming for decapitation. Naruto slowly walked through all the bodies picking up his special kunai's and putting them back into his shinobi pouch. He slowly then walked up to Gatō who was now tripping over himself trying to get away from the monster that was Naruto.

"M-Monster! Don't come near me!" Gatō said as he tripped over and face-planted on the solid ground. The man had broken his nose from the fall as he turned to Naruto's approaching form, covering his bloody nose with both of his hands. Naruto kept his emotionless look as he walked towards Gatō, not slowing down or speeding up.

"W-what do you want from me!? I can give you anything! Money, women, land… anything! Just please don't kill me!" Gatō practically screamed like a girl. Naruto shook his head slowly as he leaned down and picked Gatō up by the collar of his business shirt that now had spots of blood on them from the slaughter of all of this thugs and his own broken nose.

"You are a man that only cares for himself, destroys people's lives and constantly hurts people. You take away people's freedom because you think they are lower than you! You think you can just get away with things like this… what you have done to this country, there can be no forgiveness. There can be no peace in this world when there are people like you, now die silently." Naruto said. Before Gatō could protest, Naruto had slit the fat man's throat and tossed his body off the bridge and into the water.

Naruto turned around and took a shaky breath as he looked at all the bodies he had just slaughtered; he took a deep breath, and then promptly emptied his stomach contents onto the bridge. Kakashi looked at Naruto with pity in the man's single visible eye. Naruto may be powerful and wise, but he was still twelve, and to do something like that, to slaughter more than a hundred thugs was probably doing a number on Naruto's mental state.

Meanwhile Naruto was actually lying inside his mindscape, floating in the sewer water aimlessly looking at the ceiling. Kurama remained silent, knowing that the boy had killed before, but not to the horrible degree of what he had just done. Kurama sighed as he moved into the light from the darkness of his cage.

"**_Naruto, you're going to be fine… Those men deserved it."_** Kurama said trying to comfort Naruto. The boy remained silent as he returned to the real world and stood up feeling a bit sick. He felt his whole body drain of energy. His form was pale and his eyes lost its spark. Naruto threw up again as tears started to form in his eyes.

"_I hadn't even hesitated… I just did it; I slaughtered them all without a single warning. The Iwa shinobi were different, they could defend themselves, and they knew what they were up against and actually tried to capture me… even those five thugs when we got here, I killed them but I felt bad about if afterwards even though they deserved it. But **this**, this was slaughter, I killed them all without a single warning, and the worst part is I don't feel bad about it."_ Naruto thought in a monotone voice.

Naruto got up and wiped his mouth. In that time, Kakashi had managed to gather enough energy and walk over to Naruto and kneel at his side. He patted Naruto on the back and helped Naruto through it. After a few minutes, the color had returned to Naruto's face as Kakashi used some of his remaining chakra to burn the bodies. Naruto felt a lot better when all he could see was the ash of the bodies he had just desecrated.

"Kakashi-sensei, how do you do it? Kill so many people and move on with life?" Naruto asked with a little more emotion than he was feeling before. Kakashi sighed as he sat down next to Naruto. He closed his visible eye in thought. Naruto looked to Kakashi for an explanation and companionship. Kakashi sighed.

"You don't. Killing never gets easier; Minato-sensei had almost the same reaction after he ended the third shinobi world war. I remember helping him as his student to get through it. The point is, that killing never gets easier and it never will, you just get used to it. And to remain sane, you have to learn to see the good things in life like love and joy, keep those things close to you, they will keep you sane." Kakashi said. Naruto frowned at that but at least his sensei had provided a good explanation.

Kakashi smiled weakly and patted Naruto on the back.

"Don't worry Naruto, I'm here for you and so is Sakura. We will help you, you don't have to shoulder burdens all by yourself, that's what being a sensei had having friends is all about right?" Kakashi said as he stared into the sky in thought. "_Right… Obito, Rin… Sensei?"_

Naruto smiled weakly at that as well as he looked down at the ground. He was looking forward to going home and having a nice long rest to clear up his mind. He really needed to sort out what happened today. He didn't know what pushed him to slaughter all those thugs; it was like a second nature instinct…

"Thanks Kakashi-sensei, you right, I don't have to shoulder my burdens all by myself. I have you, Sakura, Hokage-Jiji, Iruka-sensei; Shikamaru… you all can shoulder my burdens with me right? Just like I'll shoulder yours as well…" Naruto said as his confidence returned as Naruto smiled towards Kakashi. The scarecrow Jounin smiled, the boy definitely got over things quickly.

There isn't any rest for the wicked.

"Well Naruto, I would love to sit around with you and talk about burdens, but we got a few injured comrades to attend to, along with two rouge ninja." Kakashi said as he stood up and limped over to where Sakura was. Naruto followed as both he, Kakashi and Tazuna stood around Sakura.

She now had some makeshift bandages covering her bleeding spots; some of them were already doused in blood. She had all the ice senbons taken out of her and she was slowly waking up.

"Uhh, oh man it feels like I just had a mountain dropped on my head." Sakura mumbled as she opened her eyes. She slowly sat up with the aid of Tazuna and Naruto. Kakashi had gone to see if Sasuke was alright. As much as he didn't like the Uchiha, the boy was still a shinobi of the leaf and he would be in serious shit if the last Uchiha died on his first C-rank mission.

"Is it over?" Sakura said looking around weakly. Zabuza managed to get up and walk to Haku's side and remove some of the seals Naruto placed on her. She was able to move again but the chakra seal was too complex to remove without damaging her so Naruto would have to remove it himself.

"Yeah, it's over, but I wanted them to stay alive. They didn't do anything wrong, they were just working for a bad man, it doesn't make them bad, just that they were pitched into the wrong business for the right reasons." Naruto explained. Sakura nodded weakly, too tired to argue with Naruto, as long as the fight was over, she didn't care.

Kakashi had confirmed that Sasuke was going to be unconscious for the next few days which was sort of a relief to Naruto and Sakura because they kind of didn't want to listen to his bitching and whining about his defeat to Haku. Sakura had told Naruto that Sasuke had stood against Haku for quite a long time before Haku got bored and brought out her demonic ice mirrors.

Naruto rolled his eyes at that and sighed. Sasuke was the king at underestimating people and he would ultimately end up paying for it dearly, like for example, today's events.

Once Kakashi had picked up Sasuke and brought him over to where Sakura was sitting with Naruto and Tazuna, he went over to the two missing Kirigakure Nins with a calculating cold look on his face. However, before he could ask any questions, Zabuza cut him off.

"Kakashi-san, if you're worried about us attacking you then forget about it. Gatō is dead and therefore our contract with him is null and void. You are no longer my enemy." The demon of the mist said. Kakashi seem to shrug at this, it wasn't his first missing Nin he encountered that decided not to attack him since it wasn't part of his job.

Most Nuke-nin got jobs like Zabuza and Haku did, some don't, some retire from their ninja career and start up a business like a restaurant or a book store, just a couple of examples.

"I see, so you won't be causing any more trouble to Tazuna-san here?" Kakashi said as he gestured to the old bridge builder. Zabuza scoffed and looked away in shame, it was one of the many things he didn't like, failing a mission but he really knew that with Kakashi and Naruto there that he had no chance in winning, especially against Naruto, son of the Yellow Flash.

"No, I have no business with him anymore… I guess me and Haku will take our leave. With Gatō dead I guess we will look for some new work." Zabuza said with a shrug, Kakashi raised his eyebrow.

"You're from Kirigakure and wanted for planning a resistance against the Yondaime Mizukage, why haven't you joined the resistance movement against the Mizukage yet? Its lead by a number of people all with different sorts of Kekkei Genkai's, they could really use someone like you on their side." Kakashi said. Zabuza seemed to take in this as he hummed in silence.

"You know what; maybe that's a good idea. The faster this war is over, the faster I can get back to being a Kirigakure shinobi and get these stupid hunter Nins off my trail." Zabuza said as his gaze drifted to Naruto. A comical light bulb appeared on top of Zabuza's head.

"You know Kakashi, that kid there has enough skill to end the war on his own with the Hiraishin, he could help us." The demon of the mist said. Kakashi shook his head violently.

"Naruto may be skilled and probably a second coming Yondaime Hokage, but he's still twelve. You saw how he reacted when he slaughtered those thugs, he could barely take the mental strain and guilt, and you want him to go and do it again and this time against Kirigakure shinobi?" Kakashi said with a frown beneath his mask. Zabuza shrugged carelessly.

"So what, he'll get over it. I killed my entire Genin year group and I got over it. Took me a little while but I moved passed it." Zabuza said. Kakashi sighed, he wasn't getting the point.

"The point is, as a sensei, I don't want Naruto participating in that war. I have no doubt he could end it, but he is too young, he shouldn't be living the horrors of war at a young age." Kakashi said as he turned to walk away. Zabuza snorted.

"What, so he doesn't turn out like _you? Reiketsu no Kakashi (Cold-Blooded Kakashi)_?" Zabuza mocked. Kakashi froze; he hadn't been called that since the third shinobi world war when he was still in ANBU. He didn't take another step as Zabuza continued.

"Yeah, I know. You were made Jounin when you were thirteen! You participated in the war and killed hundreds? Are you just trying to make sure your precious little Genin don't turn out like you?" Zabuza said pushing further. Kakashi shuddered, Zabuza had seen right through him. The silver haired scarecrow turned, narrowing his eyes sharply at Zabuza.

"That was different; we were at war with Iwa and Kumo. Times were tough and we needed all the leaders we could get. I had no choice, I had to kill, I had to slaughter, Naruto has a choice, he doesn't have to." Kakashi defended, Zabuza wasn't going to win this. The demon shrugged.

"Fine, but I am telling the leader of the resistance about Naruto's skills and how much he could help, what that leader does from there is not my responsibility." Zabuza said standing up, some of his energy was returning but he was still badly injured from the fight with Kakashi.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes, if the leader requested Naruto's help it would be out of his hands, the Hokage would be the one to have the final say, and he bet he would be even more against the idea of sending Naruto to Kirigakure. Kakashi sighed before turning around.

"Fine, do what you want, but I wouldn't count on it. Our Hokage is particularly fond of Naruto, and the last thing I would ever expect him to do would be to send Naruto to Kirigakure to help the resistance side of the war." Kakashi said. Once again Zabuza shrugged.

"I'm just thinking of ways to get this war as over as quickly as possible. The whole reason I'm not in Kirigakure right now is because the resistance is fairing quite badly with their current leader, but I heard that the leader died and now a new leader was selected, someone called Terumi Mei. From what I heard she has a Lava Release, not many of those around these days." Zabuza said. Kakashi said no more words as he walked back to the group.

"Oh, Kakashi, could you get that kid to remove Haku's seal, he put a chakra seal on her and she would like it if it was removed." Zabuza said. Kakashi heeded it and went and asked Naruto to remove the seal so the two missing Nin could leave.

Once Naruto had removed the seal, Haku gave him a quick kiss good-bye, which he blushed at. He didn't exactly know how to respond so he just scratched the back of his head and smiled, and told her it was nothing. After that, the two missing Nins left without another word.

* * *

Naruto and co were resting up from their attack. Naruto also gave details on his confrontation with Itachi and Kisame. Kakashi confirmed that Kisame was another seven swordsmen of the mist and was also a missing Nin of Kirigakure.

Itachi on the other hand was another case all together. Naruto had to make sure he and Kakashi were well out of ear shot of Sasuke, even if the boy was in a comatose state, they wouldn't want to risk saying his brother's name around him.

Kakashi was stunned that Naruto had actually managed to force Itachi and Kisame to retreat. In his ANBU days, Itachi was one of the best, even an ANBU captain. To force Itachi into a retreat was a feat of its own, since Itachi was always one to complete his mission no matter what.

After a few days, word spread like wild fire that Gatō had been killed and he no longer had his icy grip over the village anymore. All of his loyalists were exiled from the village, with, and ironically Inari as the leader. They managed to drive all the loyalist thugs out of hiding and remove them from the village.

The bridge builder Tazuna had managed to get all of his builders back that had quit due to their fear of Gatō, so the bridge resumed in its building phase. Soon, two weeks after the reign of Gatō had ended noticeable changes had been seen around the Wave country. Money started to come in, food started to appear on the market, crops were being grown and harvested and sold on the market.

It was a huge change in the wave that made everyone happy. Inari became a little boy again, he was now a lovable child who enjoyed his childhood and didn't mop around the place in an annoyed and angry manner. Tsunami had become much happier women than before, and Tazuna was hard at work to finish the bridge.

Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke kept training. Sakura had managed to master water walking and increase her chakra reserves exponentially; Sasuke was losing his temper with water walking because he kept falling in and denying any help from anyone, stating that he didn't need any help.

Naruto had managed to cut the leaf all down the middle. He was really happy at this, but the revelation that by Kakashi that he now needed to cut a full scale water fall seemed like a huge step in Naruto's opinion, from going from cutting something as small as a leaf to cutting something as large a waterfall. It seemed almost insane!

It was almost time for the group to return home to Konoha as the day came where they stood outside the brand new entrance to the Wave country. They stood by the newly finished bridge, the water sparkled as the sun hit it metaphorically. They black clouds had finally cleared from Gatō's evil tyranny. The village had made a date to celebrate the day where they were finally free from his evil clutches.

Team seven were hailed as heroes in the Wave country for defeating Gatō. Naruto and Sakura would blush whenever they were treated like royalty when they walked around the village, Kakashi didn't seem to mind, he had been hailed before as he had saved a few villages in his time. Sasuke however thrived in the praise, like he deserved it. He walked around town and smirked whenever people called out his name, he loved it, it fueled his ego to unrivaled egos.

"_Just you wait Itachi, I am well on my way to defeating you… I also have my Sharingan now, you will be nothing as I climb the steps to your humiliation, I will get my revenge and then I will revive my clan!"_ Sasuke thought with new vigor.

During the fight with Haku, he had managed to awaken the Sharingan, and he could have sworn he had defeated Haku like the hero he was before he passed out. He summarized that he actually could have passed out because of the newly use of the Sharingan.

"_Yeah, awakening my Sharingan would have taken a lot out of me. Facing a life and death situation doesn't come by often. Now I just need to train it and learn how to use it to its full potential, only then can I gain eyes like Itachi and then I can defeat him and avenge my clan!"_ Sasuke thought as he smiled to himself.

Now that he had the Sharingan, he thought he had taken a large step in power and maturity. He would surpass his brother and then kill him and prove himself to the world. He was going to be unstoppable and there were no one that was going to stop his rise to power.

So here they were today, standing at the gate about to say their good-byes. It had been a long two weeks, life changing for Naruto, eye opening for Kakashi and Sakura and ego boosting for Sasuke. Naruto had changed the most on this wave trip, he had been attacked more than once by hated enemies what wanted at least something from him.

Kakashi was now more aware of his surroundings; this mission had proved to be much more dangerous than what he had originally thought. Naruto was in constant danger, he was being hunted by some organisation, and he had been attacked on order of the Tsuchikage. Things were troubling and he had a feeling that they would only get even more troubling when they arrived home. Out of their entire group, Naruto needed the most progression because he was being targeted by a powerful organisation and the Tsuchikage had his eye on him.

Sakura was edging to improve as a shinobi; she had come into the ninja profession with the wrong idea about it. She had originally started come into the shinobi career to impress Sasuke, but after meeting the new Naruto she had opened her eyes to Sasuke's true colors.

But after this mission, she had come to realize how weak she truly was, she would need to gain more strength and follow Naruto's nindo and eventually forge her own resolve, to protect her precious people and to fight until her last breath.

Sasuke's lust for power and revenge grew to unbelievable levels. After he had realized that Naruto was doing Jounin level training, he wouldn't have it so he vowed to surpass Naruto even if it meant breaking the rules.

Naruto felt like he was definitely on his way to his goals, he wanted to become the Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato and ultimately bring peace to the world. It hurt his heart to have to kill, but he knew that there would be no peace as long as people like Gatō were around.

Words won't reach people like him; people like him are just terrible and work for their own selfish reasons. That's what pushed him; he wanted to become strong, powerful, for the only reason to protect his precious people and attempt to change the world.

As Team Seven stood at the gate Naruto gave an Uzumaki grin as he gave the thumbs up to everyone as most of the village gathered at the gate to send them on their way. All of them were smiling, and some of them where even crying.

"I told you all I wouldn't be leaving here unless Gatō had faced his crimes, you people are all safe now. Celebrate your freedom well, if there's anyone like Gatō again, do not hesitate to come to Konoha, we will deal with them!" Naruto preached, the crowd cheered once again as Inari, Tazuna and Tsunami came to the front of the crowd.

"We can't thank you four enough for what you have done for the Wave. I promise, once we get our money, we will send you an A-rank mission's reward. That is a promise, it is the lest we can do for going above and beyond the call of duty! You not only protected me and helped build the bridge but you managed to top Gatō and rid him from this world! You will always be welcome here at any time; you will always be remembered as heroes in this country." Tazuna said with a smile. Tsunami had smiled as she decided to put in her own words as well.

"Thank you so much, you don't know what you've done for my family. You have save us and made us remember hope. Thank you Naruto, for what you did for Inari." Tsunami said with a smile. Kakashi pouted at this, she laughed.

"And thank you too Kakashi… thank you for talking to Inari when he needed it the most." She added. Kakashi eye smiled.

"Well I think it's time we headed home! Hokage-sama will be expecting us in three days so we better get moving. Can't stick around too long otherwise we might be classed as missing Nin!" Kakashi joked. Naruto turned and scowled at the scarecrow. Kakashi sweat dropped and scratched the back of his head nervously.

"Na, that wouldn't happen, I was just kidding I guess. Well, let's be on our way shall we?" Kakashi said as he started walking. Sasuke instantly turned and walked away along with Kakashi. Naruto waved at Inari.

"Be strong little man! Take care of your family and protect your precious people, grow strong and become a man that protects, just like your step father!" Naruto said as he waved good-bye. Inari was crying anime tears as he yelled after Naruto who had turned around and started walking with Sakura.

"Good-bye Naruto-nii-san! I will! I will grow up and become strong just like you!" He yelled after the blonde Jinchuriki.

As Naruto and Sakura walked across the bridge, he listened to the crowd cheer as they walked away, Naruto smiled. Back in the crowd, Tazuna hummed to himself when he looked at Inari.

"Hey Inari, what do you think we should name this bridge?" The old drunk asked. Inari hummed but then turned to his old man with a classic Uzumaki grin, just like Naruto.

"I say we name it 'The Great Naruto Bridge' to honor the hero of Wave country. That way Naruto will always be remembered for years to come." Inari said. Tazuna smiled as he looked at the group that was now in the distance. He smiled as the sun reflected off his glasses.

"Yeah, that's a great name…. The Great Naruto Bridge… I like it."

* * *

A few days later, Naruto was walking next to Kakashi while Sakura was stuck with the brooding emo as they approached Konoha's gates. Naruto shifted uncomfortably as he turned his head towards Kakashi.

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei, what are we going to tell Hokage-Jiji? I was attacked by both Iwa Jounin shinobi because of their stupid hatred for my father, and I was also attacked by two missing Nin and one just happened to be Uchiha Itachi, what are we going to tell him?" Naruto asked, whispering Itachi's name so Sasuke didn't lose his cool. It was Kakashi's turn to shift uncomfortably as he thought about it to.

"We tell Hokage-sama the truth. He will need to know about Iwa so he can question the treaty between our village and their village for a cease fire negotiation. All I know is that Hokage-sama won't take the news nicely; he will definitely put some questions to Tsuchikage-sama. As for Itachi and Kisame, it's troubling that their after Bijuu and Hokage-sama will be hesitant to send you on missions that involve going outside the village. I think he will send out a message to Jiraiya-sama to look into this group of missing Nin and see what their true agenda is… it's hard to be sure, but for all I know, as long as Iwa holds their grudge and you carry Kyuubi, you are not safe, even inside the village walls." Kakashi explained. Kakashi thought for a while before questioning Naruto on something that bugged him.

"Naruto… you didn't use any of the Kyuubi's against the Iwa shinobi did you? No doubt you're going to be a target, but if they find out you are the Kyuubi's Jinchuriki then that will only increase the reason for them to come after you, but it would also be a reason to be even more wary of you." Kakashi asked. Naruto shook his head.

"No I didn't use Kurama-san's chakra, I used the Hiraishin though, if I didn't I would have been killed. I had to use it against Itachi and Kisame though, Kurama told me to go all out on them, and they were pretty tough. I punched that Kisame guy right in the face using my chakra and the full forty percent of Kurama's chakra and he just got right back up like nothing happened." Naruto said, balling his fists at how weak he was.

Compared to those two, if he had Itachi attacking him as well, he could have lost. It was only because Itachi was observing him that he was able to scare them away for a while.

This only sped up Naruto's dedication to create his own key to the seal. He and Kurama both wanted to see the results of a full partnership between the two, and to see just how power Naruto could become if he entered full powered Bijuu mode.

Kurama told him that if he was able to release the seal, he could actually summon the fox to fight with him. That would give Naruto a whole other ace in the hole, Kurama also said the forming of _Bijudama's _would be easier to form since Kurama is given complete control over his chakra as well as Naruto had complete control over Kurama's chakra. With a partnership, those two factors would make them a force to be reckoned with.

Not to mention that Naruto felt like he was very close to make the key, he had gotten all the base knowledge down, created all the counters for the safety measures that his father had put into the seal and he was close to actually releasing the seal.

He just had to determine the type of chakra he needed to apply to open the gate. He was close, to getting it. It wasn't long now, he was getting close to creating that key, and he could feel that he was getting closer to understanding the seal itself.

"Well that's good to hear, once we get back we need to go see Hokage-sama and report." Kakashi said as Naruto nodded in agreement. The rest of the walk was in silence as the two Jounin level shinobi were trying to predict what would happen in the future. However the life of a shinobi is always dangerous, interesting and full of surprises.

Especially if your life included one Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto.

* * *

A/N: Alright and that's chapter finish!

Now to be completely honest with you guys, up till now, most of the past 3 chapters plus this one have been pre-written. I have gone back and added stuff, but the base of these were mostly pre-written. I know you guys are probably mad, but please don't smite me down! :) Basically out of the four chapters I had pre-written, this chapter felt like the worst. Re-reading it over, I felt like I could have done better, and no doubt you guys think so too. But I promise that I will increase my quality of writing in these next coming chapters!

I have a feeling some of you are quite mad at this chapter. Naruto learning the Rasengan pretty much just as he is shown it, but as I stated, he had been learning chakra shape and manipulation a long time ago because he was learning the Bijudama, so he learned it fairly quickly. Plus in the cannon, I think I read somewhere that the Rasengan based off a Bijudama anyway... so yeah.

As for Naruto getting a A-S rank status in the bingo book, I mean... yeah! He knows the Hiraishin Jutsu, a jutsu that ended the third shinobi world war, and the fact that he was able to hold his own against twelve Iwa Jounin! If I was the Tsuchikage, I would have straight out given him an SS-rank with a kill on sight order. So yeah, there are methods to my madness.

Everything from now on will be much better quality (I hope). Coming up, the Chuunin exams and Naruto is getting a look on his competition for the exams. It seems that he isn't the only Jinchuriki in these exams.

Anyway, I'll see you guys next chapter.

Next time: Sakura's New Look and Excuses


	5. Sakura's New Look and Excuses

A/N: Hey guys, another chapter for you! This chapter is more or less about introducing the competition and making team seven a little stronger. This is also where Sakura starts to pick herself up and act a little more like her Shippuden-self. I hate her in part one, but I like her character in Shippuden. I've also given her a look based off how I think she would look if she took her shinobi career more serious.

Also, I've had some negative feedback about the Sasuke Bashing. Okay, I've decided he won't be as bashed as he is now. He will be more or less a primary character, but he will kind of be ignored. I plan to have Kakashi beat normal human being morals into him.

As for the Harem is concerned, I'm still standing with the first two: Yugito and Karin. I am also liking the idea of Temari and Tenten, I quite enjoy those characters. Not to mention Temari, the idea of Gaara constantly hassling Naruto and keeping his sister safe is hilarious in my mind. I also quite like Ino, it would give Sakura some firepower to poke fun at the her whenever she can. Other than that, nothing is certain except for Yugito and Karin. As for Fu, i'll have to think about it... she doesn't strike me as someone that I would put in a harem.

Enough ranting, on with the chapter!

* * *

Chapter Five

Landing on the couch, Sakura crashed from exhausted, the walk back to Konoha was almost as long as it was getting there in the first place! After becoming a glorified pin-cushion and then walking so many miles back to her new home, she had felt she deserved a good long nap.

Naruto's couch was quite comfy; she had only spent one night in his apartment before they had been sent off to the Wave country. The cushions felt like she was lying on a cloud, even though they actually weren't that comfortable, but anything beat sleeping on the ground. She was already drooling as she had crashed onto the couch in a very un-ladylike manner.

Naruto soon followed after her, he had crashed onto his bed, rolling over and looking at the ceiling. His eyes were glued to one spot as he phased out on the one blank spot on the ceiling. He was just as tired as Sakura, although he was able to stay awake due to his inhuman stamina, he was still tired to the point where he had to crash and lie down on something soft.

He smiled as he looked at the one visible arm that was draped over the head of the couch. It was almost amusing to see Sakura like this. He could already hear her snoring silently as her body and mental state recovered from the walk home and the past week's events. It was their first C-rank mission, and to make it a little bit fairer, it was, in reality an A-rank, almost turned S-rank.

The mere thought of Iwagakure trying to capture him, and the confrontation of Kisame and Itachi gave Naruto a head ache. He only just taking his first steps into the shinobi world and he was already being targeted and swarmed by high level shinobi, looking for his head on a platter. He was in fact, a large beacon already; no doubt Iwa had received the mission failure information and recognized him as the Yondaime's son.

Naruto groaned as he turned back over and returned to staring blankly at the ceiling. Kurama was snoring silently in his mindscape and Naruto had no one to talk to. He was too tired and too lazy to push himself off the bed and go and work on his seals, so he decided to give his poor weakened body a rest and resigned to his fate as his eyes slowly drifted off to sleep.

"_Yeah, a nice twenty four hour nap sounds good… I'll just-"_ Naruto thought before someone appeared on his windowsill. He looked over and he immediately regretted his actions. There, standing on his windowsill was the last kind of people he wanted to see right now.

He stared directly at the being on his window with a scowl, trying to send a telepathic message to tell the being too kindly go and bother someone else as he was too tried to say anything. The being on the window tilted its head slight before speaking.

"Naruto-san, Hokage-sama is requesting an audience with you immediately regarding some specific events that happened in your C-ranked mission to wave country. Hatake Kakashi has provided the information, and Hokage-sama is requesting to see you for confirmation." The masked ANBU said.

"_ARG! Fuck sake! Can I just have like, a day's rest before I'm thrown into more explanations and shit? Ah fuck it; I'll go see what Jiji wants."_ Naruto thought as he sat up and yawned. His muscles were screaming for relaxation and release. He thought about going to the bathhouse and really letting his body relax, let his muscles and brain melt in the lovely waters that were kept there.

He was almost drooling thinking about it now!

"Alright, tell him I'll be there in like…" Naruto stopped as he yawned again as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. Man, did he mention he was tired? He really felt like Shikamaru right now, being all lazy and sleepy, he even had the urge to call this situation troublesome and lie back down to sleep. However he knew from previous experience to not say 'no' to the Hokage.

"I'll be there in like ten minutes." Naruto said with a groan, as he put his feet on the floor and promptly stood up from his very short to non-existent nap. He really hated times like this, the very rare times when he actually needed his rest.

"Hai." The ANBU said before vanishing with Shunshin.

Naruto had just crashed on his bed with his clothes on, so he was still wearing the clothes he had on when he arrived in the village with. The very same clothes he had been wearing when he left the wave country.

Naruto shuddered as he stripped down right then and there. Sakura wouldn't mind, she wasn't even conscious anyway so she wasn't going to complain. She was mostly in the same position as Naruto; she was still wearing the same clothes she had been wearing when she left the wave country. To be completely honesty, that look she gave herself was very _stale_.

The long hair pink colored hair she had was far too long that a normal Kunoichi should have. Her clothes were just as bad as his use to be! Bright red… come on! That was equally bad as orange! It was an eyesore to every shinobi or ninja known to the world! If he was going to train her, the first thing they were going to do was get her a new set of real shinobi wardrobe.

Naruto dragged himself over to his wardrobe and got out some of his remaining clothes, having thrown out the jumpsuits he only had his newer clothes left and this was the last set. He was going to have to do some washing later. He hated chores, but living on his own for so long taught him why they needed to be done, otherwise the place turned into a disgusting mess!

Not that it already wasn't anyway, with all the fūinjutsu scrolls and what not lying scattered all around the place. He hadn't had time to clean up before he left to the wave to he was going to be forced to do it sometime later after his visit with Hokage-Jiji.

Once Naruto had freshened up, he walked past the sofa that had a passed out pink headed female lying in the most unpractical position he had ever seen. Naruto sweat dropped as he looked at her form. Her back was twisted and her arms were all over the place, and her legs were draping over the end of it. She looks so uncomfortable it was hard for Naruto to imagine how in Kami-sama's name that she was managing to rest like that was beyond him.

The blonde Jinchuriki shrugged as he walked out the door. She was going to be cramped and very stiff when she woke up, that he was very sure.

He stood outside his door and closed it, making a few hand seals and successfully locking the door. How he had managed to focus his chakra right now was a mystery to him, maybe the training with Kurama had been really that effective and he really hadn't known it just yet.

He sighed as he began walking, running a hand through his greasy blonde hair. His eyes were only slightly open as he walked out of his apartment area and towards the Hokage tower. He was already five minutes late, and he said he would be there in ten minutes.

It had been fifteen minutes since he had dismissed that ANBU.

"_Man is Kakashi-sensei's tardiness already rubbing off on me? I should be ashamed; I don't want to end up like him in the future."_ Naruto thought as a picture of him with a mask and spiky blonde hair popped up in his mind.

He was reading the same smut as Kakashi read while standing in front of three imaginary students that represented team seven in a way. Naruto scoffed as he pushed that thought out of his head. He'd never let that happen to him, it wasn't like he was going to needing smut like that to read. He had a feeling he was going to have enough people like Sakura in his life to keep him on his toes.

* * *

Naruto had made it to the Hokage tower, and right as of then he was at least half an hour late. When he made his way to the office, he could feel the annoyance of the old man just seeping through the walls as he walked down the hallway to the old man's office. Naruto sighed as he went to push open the door.

"H-Hey Hokage-Jiji… did you really have to call me here so soon? I was about to enjoy a nice twenty four hour power nap." Naruto yawned as he walked into the room. He didn't really see the need to discuss the issue right away. In his mind, it was more or less a convocation he should really be more awake for, when he actually wanted to pay attention and not fall asleep on the spot.

Kakashi was standing to the side, leaning on one of the walls reading his usual smut. The ANBU that had called him here on order of the Hokage was kneeling next to the old prune while said 'old prune' sat behind his desk, his eyes closed in deep thought.

Naruto dragged his feet to the front of the Hokage's desk and stood there like a good shinobi should. Except he was exhausted and he was barely awake. In fact he could feel himself drifting off now just because of the silence.

"Hello Naruto-kun, I heard that you were successful in the wave country?" Hiruzen said with a smile as he opened his eyes and stared at the blonde Minato-lookalike. Naruto scowled as he looked at the old man, casual convocation was not in his list of 'to do's' for today. Taking a twenty four hour power nap was definitely on the top of the list today, Iwa and Itachi could wait for all he cared.

"No offence Hokage-Jiji, but cut the idle chit chat, I know you've called me here because my dear sensei told you what happened to me in the Wave. I would like to cooperate as much as I can so I can go and pass out on my bed and sleep for a month." Naruto exaggerated with a bored sigh. The old man behind the desk sighed. The old man's eyes were full of interest and worry.

"Yes, I understand. From what I hear you were given quite a hard time in the Wave country. You were attacked by Iwagakure shinobi. Since they were border lining the Land of Fire, and since the Land of the Waves is in alliance with Konohagakure, it is a breach to the agreements your father made at the end of the third shinobi world war. I will be putting some questions and some serious accusations towards the Tsuchikage. I would like to hear what happened from the mouth of the victim." Sarutobi Hiruzen said with a serious gaze.

Naruto sniffled and yawned as he explained what exactly had happened to him. He explained how he had blown up at Inari and stormed off to release some anger on the poor trees in a nearby bush. He had explained that he was ambushed by at least twelve Iwa Jounin with their intent to capture him and return him to Iwa.

He explained how he was forced to use Hiraishin no Jutsu, Rasengan, Kage Bunshin and a couple of Fūton jutsu that he had known from some books he had read.

Hiruzen was stunned that Naruto had learned the Rasengan in little to no time. The time it took for Yondaime to learn it was about three years! Even his student Jiraiya had taken a year to learn that jutsu that was classed as a high A-rank jutsu. He looked to Kakashi for an explanation. The silver haired Jounin looked up with a question mark over top of his head and a guilty look on his face.

Kakashi then put in his own words on how he had taught Naruto the Rasengan, but since Naruto had already known the basics of nature shape manipulation and chakra rotation that it took a few minutes, just after showing Naruto the technique for the blonde genius to actually form the jutsu. That revelation caused Hiruzen to almost have a heart attack!

Learning the Rasengan in minutes, despite knowing chakra transformation and rotation!? What the hell _what_ was Naruto? Behind that thick lump of golden blonde hair must have sat a brain with unforeseen intelligence for someone his age!

Except for the Nara's of course, no one could beat those lazy asses in the IQ department.

Naruto had nervously sweat dropped when Hiruzen forced the blonde to explain how he had already known about chakra shape and rotation transformation. The Kyuubi's Jinchuriki admitted that Kurama had practically forced the information into him to help him learn how to use and create a _Bijudama_.

Again, the Sandaime almost had a heart attack and comically fell out of his chair.

After all, Minato did base the nature of the Rasengan on a Tailed Beast Ball. It would be no surprise if Naruto had learnt the Rasengan in a few minutes if he had been practicing trying to create a Tailed Beasts most destructive ability while he was practicing fūinjutsu in those four years in the academy.

Finally, after a few minutes of clearing up the whole Iwa incident with the Sandaime promising to sort this issue out himself, he said that he would want to avoid an unnecessary conflict if he could, but if they tried this again, he would wage war against the Stone once again, and this time he would crush them with the will of fire.

They moved onto more disturbing manners, the encounter with Itachi and Kisame was brought up, and Naruto's face turned even more serious at this. The old man asked him to explain the situation to him, so Naruto gladly complied.

"Well, I was heading towards the bridge to help out Kakashi-sensei and my team before I was cut off by Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame. They told me they were part of some sort of organisation and they were after what I _contained_." Naruto said.

Sandaime's eyes widened at this but then closed his eyes. The old man had actually heard of this group, they were going around capturing Bijuu. He had heard of this from his old student Jiraiya, the legendary spy master of Konoha. The perverted sage was extremely resourceful, especially when the old veteran Hokage needed to learn what was happening in other countries.

"_So this is the Akatsuki… I had always wondered where Itachi-kun had gone after the massacre. So their collecting Bijuu and that makes Naruto-kun a target. I wonder what they're overall goal is?" _The old man thought as he brought his hands up and stroked his chin.

"I have heard of this certain _organisation_ Naruto-kun. They are called the 'Akatsuki' and they're a mercenary group full of S-class missing-Nin from various different villages. They are extremely dangerous and their true goal is unknown, however, they are collecting Bijuu from all the different hidden villagers… or have tired." Hiruzen said causing Naruto's eyes to widen.

Naruto was very confused to say the least. This group was collecting Bijuu? But for what purpose? It was until this time that the sleeping fox had woken up and decided to put his two cents into the convocation.

"**_Naruto… This news is quite… troubling to say the least. The very idea of collecting Bijuu can only mean one thing, and even I, the greatest and one of the most powerful entities in the world, would be afraid of what the outcome would be."_** Kurama hummed in his mindscape. Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean Kurama? What would happen if all Nine Bijuu come together?" Naruto said out loud causing Hiruzen and Kakashi to narrow their eyes on the blonde Jinchuriki. It was obvious the Kyuubi had overheard their convocation and was now giving his input. Kurama grumbled a little before replying.

"**_Well… to put it into simple terms so you would understand the seriousness of the situation. It would be the end of the world as we know it."_** Kurama stated rather calmly. Naruto face faulted in complete shock causing Hiruzen and Kakashi to wonder what the blonde and his demon where conversing about.

"_W-What, are you serious? What do you mean the end of the world?!"_ Naruto asked, visibly starting to sweat, his previously lazy tired attitude had been put aside as this new information came to light. Kurama grumbled lowly in is mindscape.

"**_Long story short and I'll give you the long later when I can be bothered. When all nine Bijuu come together, we end up forming an entity so powerful and so unbelievably godlike that it could probably even rival the Shinigami itself. This beast… this godly being is known as the J_****_ūbi (Ten Tailed Beast). I don't know what this group is thinking, but if that monster is revived then the world as we know it will be destroyed."_**Kurama explained.

Naruto swallowed hard. All of a sudden he felt so small and insignificant. He even shook a little, if those people got their hands on him and the rest of the Jinchuriki, they would revive this monster and practically destroy the world!

He didn't understand… why would this group want to die as well? Surely a god with that much power would be uncontrollable, wouldn't it? What would they have to gain in reviving something like that? Surely this had to be a misconception, no one is _that_ insane.

Swallowing hard, Naruto recited what Kurama had told him to his Sensei and his Hokage. Kakashi was so shocked he dropped his book of smut to the floor and didn't even bother to pick it up. The pipe from Sandaime's mouth dropped at the same time, both objects hitting the floor at the same time.

All three in the room had tensed as a huge wave of realization came over the three.

"If that group achieves even half their goal…" Kakashi said as he was now visibly sweating as much as Naruto was. However, Sandaime managed to read Kakashi's thoughts and finish his sentence.

"Then with the power of at least four or even five Bijuu behind them, will wage war against the five shinobi nations. Purely to draw out the remaining Bijuu and capture them and revive this… _monster."_ Sandaime said as his eyes phased on the center of his desk, his hands clenching and going white.

"And that would be the start of the Fourth Shinobi world war… which would almost certainly end in their favor." Naruto finished.

The blonde thought more as the other two Kage Level shinobi did as well. The whole idea of this supposed goal seemed absurd! There had to be something they were missing, and they obviously were missing something. Right now this was all speculation, but it all seemed very solid evidence, why else would the Akatsuki be collecting Bijuu?

"There has to be something more than this… something to gain. A group of people wouldn't just want to destroy the world and not get anything out of it, that's just pointless. There has to be a hidden agenda behind this madness?" Naruto said. Sandaime sighed.

"Let's just dismiss this for now. As of now, this Akatsuki hasn't captured any Jinchuriki from what I have heard; they have been simply doing reconnaissance and making a name for themselves through various crimes and missions. Jiraiya-kun has informed me of this. We're just speculating right now and this will do us no good. For all we know their goal might be completely different." Sandaime said. Kakashi nodded in agreement.

"We'll keep this between ourselves; no one outside this room is to know what happened here today. We don't need to cause unnecessary panic among the villagers." Kakashi suggested. Sandaime nodded and turned to Naruto.

"Naruto-kun, I would suggest you improve on your training with the Kyuubi. If worst comes to worst, you will need the full power of the Kyuubi to aid you in your battles with the Akatsuki. So far Itachi and Kisame are the only known members since they attacked you in the Wave, and by the looks of it, they weren't serious and they were merely observing your skills. Next time they will attempt to capture you, I'm sure of this." Hiruzen said. The old man turned to Kakashi.

"I'm afraid for safety reasons I will not allow your team to take missions that lead outside of the village due to this revelation. We cannot risk Naruto being captured, despite his skill and power; two S-rank criminals who are sent to capture Jinchuriki are obviously prepared to deal with the Bijuu as well, so we must be careful. Are you alright with this Naruto-kun?" He asked. Naruto grudgingly nodded.

"As much as I would hate to admit it… I hit Kisame with everything I had. Rasengan with the full forty percent Kurama was able to give me, and I was only able to dent him, and Itachi didn't even attack me. If I'm to meet them again, I need to make sure I can take on the two of them and defeat them… or at least until back up arrives." Naruto said. Kakashi smiled.

"Don't worry Naruto; I will always be here to fight by your side. I'm sure some of the other Jounins and Hokage-sama will be the same." Kakashi said with an eye smile. Naruto smiled softly at his sensei. The man may be lazy, but he stuck to his words.

"Anyway, all this depressing, world destroying information aside, before I left to go to the Wave country I heard that Konoha is the next host for the Chuunin exams, is that true Jiji?" Naruto asked. The old man raised an eyebrow but nodded slowly.

"Yes indeed the Chuunin exams will be held in around four months' time. Why do you ask Naruto-kun?" Sarutobi asked. Naruto huffed along with eyeing Kakashi, making the silver haired scarecrow sweat nervously a little.

"I have a feeling my dear sensei here is going to enter us in this exam. He's seen my skills so he's going to expect me to carry the team to victory. I am, however not at all satisfied with that." Naruto said narrowing his eyes at Kakashi. The scarecrow eye smiled as he began to sweat even more nervously.

"Ma, ma Naruto… you know I would never do that!" Kakashi said scratching the back of his head. Naruto continued to stare at Kakashi with an impassive look. Kakashi began to shake at that look. It was the same look Minato gave him and his teammates when he knew they were lying.

"Okay fine… I was going to _suggest_ you enter but I wasn't going to force you." Kakashi admitted. Sandaime sweat dropped and face palmed.

"Kakashi, I know for a fact that Naruto will be able to hold his own but what about Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura? Do you think they're both ready to take on what is expected in the exams? They are still relatively fresh out of the academy; you expect them to participate in the exams and pass? Let alone make it passed the first round?" Sandaime said with a concerned frown on his face.

Kakashi scratched the side of his cheek with his index finger while eye smiling.

"Eh, yeah… I guess…-No not really." Kakashi admitted. Naruto chuckled a little at the inconsistency of Kakashi's sentence. Naruto turned to the Sandaime and gave the man a grin. Sandaime didn't like that grin, it told him Naruto was up to something.

"That's why I wanted to ask you something. I was wondering if I could train Sakura, she asked me to train her since she can see that I'm around the same level as Kakashi-sensei. I think if Kakashi-sensei went and trained Sasuke, and I trained Sakura in-between team work exercises we can steamroll over these exams easily." Naruto suggested.

Sandaime and Kakashi turned their eyes towards the ceiling in thought. It was well known that Naruto was well-above every other Genin for his age, but training another Genin? That seemed a little over the top. The two high level shinobi war veterans thought hard on that, going through all the pros and cons of the situation if Kakashi went and trained Sasuke and Naruto trained Sakura.

Needless to say, there were far more pros than there were cons.

"Just… what exactly would you train Sakura in Naruto-kun? She's very book smart from what I have heard, quite passionate about all sorts of things. Does she have a motive for a specific field like Ninjutsu… or Kenjutsu? Genjutsu perhaps, what is she proficient in?" Sandaime asked both Kakashi and Naruto. Naruto looked towards Kakashi since the lazy Jounin was their sensei, he should know.

Kakashi stepped forward.

"She has almost perfect chakra control, and she's very proficient in Genjutsu. Below average in Ninjutsu and her Taijutsu is very weak. I haven't seen any Kenjutsu from her so I wouldn't know, but if I were to guess it would be non-existent. She's a beginner in fūinjutsu from what I have seen; she can seal a kunai in a scroll among other things. Her chakra reserves are at least high Genin at most." Kakashi reeled off, as if it were everyday knowledge.

Naruto was far more impressed why Kakashi's description of Sakura's abilities. Maybe he had to give the lazy Jounin more credit; maybe he was paying more attention to his students more than he let on.

Sandaime hummed to himself. That description reminded him of a certain _someone_ that he taught a long time ago. That certain_ someone _was now a Sannin. Yes, Sakura's abilities reminded him very much of Tsunade the Slug Princess of Konoha.

Like Sakura, Tsunade was proficient in Genjutsu and had near perfect Chakra control. Her Taijutsu was better since she was the granddaughter of their Shodai Hokage and she had gotten special training.

Sakura seemed very close to what Tsunade was like in when she was a Genin. Sakura however, was lacking in more than one of those areas, Tsunade was more rounded when she was Genin, but she was better in Genjutsu and chakra control.

The main hitters of that group were Orochimaru, a Ninjutsu specialist and knew a ton of jutsu. Jiraiya was more or less the physical build. He was the brawler of the group, but his strength was dwarfed when Tsunade had managed to successfully infuse her chakra into her physical attacks, making her probably the strongest Kunoichi in the elemental continents.

"She sounds like one of my students; she has a lot of potential… much like Tsunade-chan had." Sarutobi said. Naruto grind-ed his teeth at her name, causing the Sandaime to sigh with a slight smile.

Naruto still hadn't gotten over it? Some feeling Hiruzen had told him that Naruto was going to take pleasure in _taking care_ of Tsunade and Jiraiya. He shuddered to think what Naruto would do to them when he finally found them.

"So, you're saying that Sakura has the potential to become like the _legendary_ Tsunade of the Sannin?" Naruto said, spitting the name legendary like it was the worst type of thing in the world. You didn't deserve the name Legendary if you couldn't even put aside your own personal troubles to raise an innocent child whose life was going to a living hell without protection.

Sandaime nodded hesitantly, he and Kakashi could feel the killing intent rolling off Naruto in waves. Possibly the killing intent was fueled by Kyuubi as well.

"Yes, the description of her skills was similar to Tsunade-chan's skills and abilities when she was a Genin. It's possible with the right amount of training Sakura could become more or less the new Tsunade of this generation." Hiruzen said. Naruto nodded slowly, he had a feeling Sakura would like the idea of becoming like a legendary ninja. She did seem like the medic type after all.

"Alright, I'll tell her, see if she wants to follow a similar path as my _godmother_. Five months, I could turn her into a mini-Tsunade by then. I could teach her Kage Bunshin to help her." Naruto said, Kakashi and Hiruzen's eyes widened.

"NO!" They both yelled at the blonde. Naruto's eyes widened as he sighed.

"Jeez, you guys have no faith in me do you? Look I wasn't saying she has to create hundreds of clones like me. I'm saying I'll teacher her to create one or two, just to help. I know she doesn't have the chakra for it, but creating one or two Kage Bunshin shouldn't kill her, just tire her out a little." Naruto explained.

Kakashi and Sandaime relaxed a little, Naruto's explanation making a little more sense. The old Hokage narrowed his eyes dangerously at Naruto, making the blonde swallow nervously.

"Naruto, it's a Kinjutsu for a reason! You can't just go around teaching that ability to people who don't have enough chakra to handle it. Even for Sakura… more than four Kage Bunshin could possibly kill her." Hiruzen said seriously, Naruto rolled his eyes.

"That's why I was going to make it perfectly clear to never use it in combat and, too never make more than two when training. Kage Bunshin is the ultimate learning tool, and I have five months to train myself, and turn Sakura into a mini-Tsunade. If she uses a Kage Bunshin to train and learn medical jutsu for five months with one clone, she can get up to ten months' worth of training. It's the same if she used two clones… that's over a year's worth of training in five months." Naruto said taking a moment for a breath as he looked into their eyes.

"You are right when you said I'm the only one who can do this sort of training… training with hundreds of them is something only I can do, but training with one or two can still make a large difference." Naruto continued. Kakashi and Sandaime were now starting to get the idea. Kage Bunshin really was the ultimate training tool.

People that would use it with low chakra levels will only be able to make four or five before almost dying from chakra exhaustion. Making one or two at the max shouldn't be a problem; it would only make them tired.

"Alright Naruto… you have won my vote of confidence, but PLEASE be careful with her. If she pushes herself with too many Kage Bunshin she will die, and the responsibly will be on yours and Kakashi's hands if that happens." Sandaime said seriously.

"With her level of chakra, she will be limited to only having two shadow clones at absolute maximum. As her teacher, you will enforce that rule with the utmost importance, am I clear Naruto, Kakashi?" They both nodded with haste. Sandaime smiled.

"In that case I will dig around for some of Tsunade's training scrolls. I know I have a few of them, plus some her methods of training. I think I even have the Slug summoning contract somewhere…" The old man thought. Naruto smiled as he walked towards the exit.

"Well, if anyone needs me, I'll be in my apartment and resting in dream land. I'll start training her maybe tomorrow or the day after. Have fun with Sasuke Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto laughed as he exited the Hokage tower and walked off back home to finally get the rest his body had been craving for.

Kakashi sighed. "_Aw man, why do I have to get the stuck up Uchiha? Can't I have Sakura and he has Sasuke?"_ Kakashi pouted internally. Life just wasn't fair for the Silver haired Jounin; life just wasn't fair at all.

* * *

Two days later, Naruto and Sakura arrived at training ground seven. Today was the start of Sakura's really Kunoichi training and to tell you the truth, she was quite nervous. If she had been told Naruto was training her a few months ago, she would have laughed and told that person to shove it.

But now here she was, standing in front of the child of the Yondaime, ready to start her first lesson in the shinobi arts. She still had a slight crush for Sasuke, but it was leaving her system quite quickly in favor for training with Naruto and furthering herself in her professions.

She didn't see herself in a romantic relationship with Naruto, it just seemed wrong with how he acted around her. Instead she saw him as a brother, willing to help her in any way possible to achieve her dreams. Since she joined this Genin team her dreams slowly changed over time, and Sasuke was effectively expelled from her list of dreams, instead she was going to chase after something different.

Her dream was to be strong and powerful. Powerful enough to help those people in need, strong enough to take care of her friends and keep them alive. This dream was boosted when Naruto offered to train her to eventually become as good as Tsunade of the Sannin!

So now here they were, and she was more than ready to push herself to become the best she could be. She also hoped that she and one of her ex-best friends Ino could eventually mend their shattered and broken relationship. When she finally figured out how much she missed the blonde she only wished she could talk to her again, as the friends they use to be.

"Alright, today we aren't going to be training." Naruto declared. Sakura face faulted.

"WHAT! Why the hell did you drag me out here so early in the morning if you aren't going to train me!?" Sakura cried indignantly. Naruto chuckled a little causing the pink haired Kunoichi to go red with anger.

"What's so funny fishcake!?" Sakura huffed. Naruto pouted and laughed again, she was so funny when she was angry and not punching or destroying anything.

"We'll first we need to do something about that look of yours." Naruto said plainly. Sakura blushed in embarrassment, and then she went even redder with anger. Naruto could have sworn he saw steam shooting out of her ears.

"What are you saying? Are you trying to say I look ugly!?" She almost screamed. Naruto waved his hands, denying such a claim.

"No, no… listen." Naruto sighed as Sakura calmed down and looked at Naruto with a stern gaze. She wanted to know what the hell he was going on about.

"I want you to change your appearance. Cut your hair shorter, and change your outfit. You do realize that the color red is just as much as an eyesore as orange. They're both outstandingly bright colors. What you need is more of a dark color. Like black or dark red, something that's stealthier and doesn't scream 'kill me please'." Naruto explained.

Sakura felt angry that a boy was telling her how to look more like a shinobi, but this was coming from a shinobi that was possibly just as strong as Kakashi, and he sounded like he knew what he was talking about.

She did have to admit, her clothes weren't exactly fit for the shinobi career.

"Okay, I get that, but what about my hair? What's wrong with having it long? I like it long." Sakura said with a frown. Naruto sighed and flashed out of existence. Sakura's eyes widened as she suddenly felt the back of her head burning.

Naruto had grabbed onto her long hair and pulled it as hard as he could; yanking her to the ground. She let out a squeal as he fell onto her back, clutching her hair, her eyes sprouting fresh to tears. She wanted to scream at him, tell him to piss off, but that would just help to prove his point.

"That's why, I'm just trying to help you Sakura. Most Kunoichi have their hair short and that is one of the many reasons why. You can regrow it out when you become a high class Kunoichi, because by that time, you will be too fast for your enemy to even catch you." Naruto said. Sakura stood up and hatefully glared at the blonde for being so ruff.

"You know you could have just told me you know! That really hurt, you didn't need to do that Naruto." Sakura said as she wiped the wetness out of her eyes. Naruto rolled his eyes and took her hand.

"Come on, let's go shopping. We need to get you a looking like a bad-ass Kunoichi." Naruto said. Sakura mentally chuckled lightly while still glaring at Naruto as he pulled her to the shops. She wondered what kind of clothes he had in mind for her, and she had a really bad feeling about this.

* * *

Four hours later, an ecstatic Sakura walked through the doors of Naruto's apparent with a large grin on her face. She had more than six bags full of clothes, weapons and various other things that she wanted for her new life style. As she walked in, she ran towards the bathroom to get changed.

Following behind her, a pale, horrified looking Naruto walked into the apartment. He went over to the couch and sat down, staring at the floor. His eyes were bloodshot and he looked like he was about to throw up. He had never felt worse, even when he was beaten to an inch of his life, even when he was being chased and kicked out of stores by shop owners.

He stared at Gama-chan, his wallet, which was now a desert. A wasteland, not a single note or coin of Ryo remained in his once full wallet.

"_Girls are horrible beings from hell. Girls are horrible beings from hell…"_ Naruto said over and over in his mind. Kurama was busy laughing his furry ass off at how stupid Naruto had been. He had _willingly_ offered to take a girl shopping.

A GIRL.

"_What the fuck have I done? All my life savings… gone! She's evil!"_ Naruto thought crying anime tears. Grudgingly he put his precious, desecrated Gama-chan away in his shinobi pouch. He had never felt so used in his life. Sakura was his teammate! How could she do that to him! It was unforgivable!

Naruto sighed, resigning to his fate. It was his fault after all, he had offered in the first place. That was a mistake he would never make again. Next time she wanted to buy something she can use her own money! They make enough from D-rank missions anyway. Naruto just hopped that the A-rank pay that they were getting from the Wave would arrive by the end of the week, he was bankrupt!

Just at that moment, Sakura walked out into the sitting room, looking completely different to what she had before. Her hair was cut short and tired with into a pineapple kind of style. It reminded Naruto of that strange lady that he was used to seeing around town, eating dango all the time.

She was wearing dark, wine red tank top with a black mini-skirt that was short enough to easily man-oeuvre around in, which was needed for a shinobi or kunoichi. Under her mini-skirt she wore black undershorts. She wore fish net stockings that went from her thighs right down to her toes, and around her waist, she had two shinobi pouches on each sides of her lower back.

One of the pouches was for poisons and another one for long range throwing weapons such as kunai and shuriken. She also wore black leather, knee high combat heels that had been modified for quick movement and sharp reactions.

Needless to say, Sakura was a whole new person.

"So, do I look good?" Sakura said with a small blush. Naruto laughed causing her to blush largely and close her eyes in embarrassment. She once again bubbled with anger before Naruto answered her question.

"Sakura… it's not about if you look good or not. Your old outfit was too bright and you looked like a weak little girl. That made you an easy target." Naruto said. Sakura grind-ed her teeth at that but Naruto held up his hands, calming her down. She looked at him with a questionable glare.

"But now you look like someone to be reckoned with, you look dangerous. I take one look at you and if I was another cute little Genin, I would be shitting my pants! You look strong and independent, now all we need to do is make you the part." Naruto said. Sakura's eyes widened and smiled at the same time.

"So are we going to be doing some training?" Sakura said impatiently. Naruto waved her off causing her to grind her teeth once again. Every minute Naruto was becoming more and more like their lazy silver haired sensei. Next thing you know he's going to be reading those silly little orange books. She would consider the world to be ending if that ever happened.

"Yes, meet me where we're this morning, I'll be back with something's I'm getting from Hokage-Jiji. I'm going to be getting the training methods my godmoth- I mean, Tsunade used. I'll also come back with a load of medical books for you to read." Naruto said as he got up.

Sakura internally squealed as she just grinned on the outside. She couldn't wait to become strong, she didn't want to have to rely on Naruto and Sasuke to get her through her troubles, and she wanted to help shoulder those burdens with them, mostly Naruto but Sasuke as well, even if it kills her. That's what being a teammate is about right?

"Wait a second, what about Kakashi-sensei's training? Aren't we supposed to be doing teamwork exercises with him or something?" Sakura asked with a confused look. If she and Naruto were training… then what about Sasuke and Kakashi, what were they doing?

"Don't worry Sakura; Kakashi-sensei will be doing one on ones with Sasuke. We have five months. Probably two or three weeks before the chuunin exams, Kakashi-sensei will probably get us together to get us back onto track with our teamwork skills." Naruto explained. Sakura nodded, it seemed reasonable. They were all getting individual training, and Naruto would be helping her while Sasuke got one and one time with Kakashi.

"Alright Sakura, I'll see you at the training field. Get ready for the hardest training of your life. Don't expect breaks or mercy. If you want to become a great kunoichi, you must first push yourself to your limits. I'll be there in five, be ready." Naruto said and vanished via Shunshin.

Sakura wasted no time leaving the apartment and making her way to the very training ground she stood in with him this morning. Her clothes felt good, much more free and un-restricting than her last ones. She was surprised how good her knee high boots felt, she felt like it was so right to wear them, not to mention how well she looked in the mirror with them on.

She was fifty – fifty on the idea of her hair, she had it cut for her. She was happy with the outcome, and to her it made her look a little more tomboyish. She didn't look like a pretty innocent girl anymore, she looked like a shinobi that would kill and not feel a thing afterwards about it.

As she headed to the training field, Naruto's words rung inside of her head. The 'Don't expect breaks or mercy' part of his speech… something told her this would be a ruthless five months.

* * *

Five months had passed since Naruto had decided to train Sakura and little did he know that for a short time, Sakura absolutely hated him for the training he has put her through. At first she consistently complained and whined when she got tired. He had to constantly remind himself that she didn't have his stamina and high level chakra reserves.

In the first month, he had decided to put her through stamina and chakra training to intensely increase her reserves and her fitness. She was a slouch to begin with but after about three weeks of hellish training, she was starting to show some serious improvement. She was starting to become more disciplined; she stopped whining and stopped complaining about being tired.

She even stopped caring about how she looked. When she sparred with Naruto, he would beat her into the ground every time. Sometimes she was lucky to even get a hit on him, he was so fast and he hit so hard. He came at her with Bijuu mode on! It was scary at how much chakra he was using to spar with her, but he said it was necessary to become a better fighter.

He had said, "You don't become better by fighting those that are weaker than you, but become stronger when you fight someone who can easily kill you. What doesn't kill you makes your stronger." So with that he had charged at her with the intent to kill.

She broke bones.

She was put through agonizing pain, like nothing she had ever known.

But she still got up.

And she still continued.

That's what Naruto liked about her, she was so determined to become stronger, she had put aside her cares for her obsession with being pretty and sexy, and she just went in to kill every time she sparred against him. She came at him with the intent to kill using everything she had, Genjutsu, speed, strength, Ninjutsu… and she still got pummeled into the ground.

After that first month of boot camp, she had increased her chakra reserves to high chuunin level and low Jounin. Naruto was impressed with her progress. When she started training, Naruto had taught her Kage Bunshin, which she was incredibly grateful for, but he told her to under no circumstances make more than three… **ever.**

So when she wasn't doing physical training, she and her Kage Bunshin were studying the training methods and techniques of the great Tsunade of the Sannin. Two Kage Bunshin studied that, while she studied Ninjutsu. She found that she particularly drifted towards Doton and Suiton jutsus.

When she wasn't studying and fighting against Naruto, she was practicing medical jutsu. At first she was horrible at it and couldn't grasp the concept of it. So she went back to the books, pouring over all the basics, even using three Kage Bunshin to help, but she dared not go any further as she feared for her health.

After using three, she felt like she would be crossing the line of no return if she used anymore so she decided not to attempt something as life threatening as that.

All while she did this, Naruto was busy at work, pushing himself with his own Kage Bunshin training. He was training by having over fifty at the apartment pouring over the fūinjutsu scrolls, twenty five on Hiraishin formula making, and the other twenty five going over Kurama's imprisonment seal. He worked on his nature manipulation, which the next step was cutting a water fall in half.

He had to find a waterfall, but there were none in Konoha. He went and requested the old Hokage to make a small one for him and the old man agreed, taking him to a small clearing in an unused training ground.

Naruto had fifteen Kage Bunshin, plus himself doing this exercise to help him improve on his Fūton nature manipulation. It took two weeks for him to even make a slight slash across the entire waterfall. He predicted he should have had it down by the end of the five month period before the chuunin exams.

As the fourth month rolled on by, Sakura and Naruto had another spar. Needless to say, their training area was full of holes in the ground, Naruto with his Bijuu mode on going at Sakura, and her with her now chakra enhanced strength. She almost shattered his hand went he went to block one of her punches! He was stunned he was forced to retreat for a bit before putting her down.

Sakura had managed to grasp the concept of Tsunade's super strength that she was so famed for. It wasn't that she used chakra to enhance her muscles, she used that of course, but it was the build-up and the intensity and speed of the output of the chakra through contact that was the key.

When Sakura would punch, she would build up chakra in her fist, or her leg, whichever part of her body was going to come into contact with the enemy. On the first contact, she had to correctly control the flow and speed of the chakra that flowed out of her fist. The more chakra and the faster it was, the greater the devastation and the more power lay behind the strike.

It was extremely difficult to do, without the scrolls telling her how the fundamentals worked.

She had also had become accustom to creating poisons and using them against Naruto. He was hit with a few, but laughed at Sakura despite her dismay. He told her that they would work on any other opponent, but while he was in Bijuu mode, the type of poisons she was using was burned out of his system thanks to Kurama's chakra flooding his body.

She would state that the fight was unfair since it was basically two verse one, but Naruto shrugged, telling her that life wasn't fair and that there will be times where you will come up against people and they will double team, maybe even triple team you with the intent to kill, so now, at the time was a better time to learn than ever.

During that five month period, Naruto had taken that time to train with the other teams Genin, like Asuma's team and Kurenai's team like he had been told by Kakashi to do. He had promised since he had been given the title of 'Elite Genin' that he had to train with Team(s): seven, eight and ten. He was more or less a means to push the people that he had an affect around, to push themselves to higher levels.

He didn't think it was bad, but he would have been rather doing other things. Hanging out with Shikamaru wasn't too bad, but it was still wasting time when he could have been training for the exams.

Finally there were two weeks until the exams had started and the two flatmates had improved a great deal. Naruto had managed to figure out how to create Hiraishin seals, but had made little to no progress on his seal that kept Kurama inside of him, which annoyed him to no end. Naruto had also managed to complete his nature elemental training just in time.

When sparing, Naruto's Fūton jutsu's would almost K.O. her to the point where she made it a goal to avoid every single one of his wind based Ninjutsus. They were so powerful, she literally could not counter them, only avoid them. However, she had become proficient in using Doton and Suiton, to the point where she could quickly use them in fights.

So when the two assessed their skills, strength and what they had learned over the five month period. Naruto could honestly say that Sakura had taken large strides since she had started this training.

When she started, she was no less skilled than any other Genin in their age group. Now after the training with the small amount of Kage Bunshin and training using Tsunade's training methods that had been given to her by Naruto, from the Hokage, she was now sitting comfortable at high chuunin level, low Jounin.

They could both agree that Naruto had advanced to a level that was on par with the Hokage and Sannin themselves. He was ridiculously strong for his age, but then again, he had the Kyuubi helping him, the strongest out of all the nine Bijuu and was practically a chakra battery for the blonde.

Naruto had the means, and was given the tools and gladly took advantage of them to make himself as best he could with the time given.

They both had no doubt that they would win these exams.

* * *

While Sakura was off continuing her training, Naruto was called to the Hokage's office on a matter of great importance. The young blonde Jinchuriki was slightly puzzled at what his Jiji was wanting so close to the exams. Had something gone wrong? What would he want with him now?

As Naruto arrived at the door, he pushed it open and promptly walked into the room. He coughed slightly as he went and stood in front of the old man. The Hokage looked up and smiled at Naruto, it was a smile that the Yondaime's legacy he had come to love like his own grandson over the years. It was a true blessing to have Naruto be a part of his village, even if they hadn't treated him correctly.

"Hello Naruto-kun, I have called you here to discuss a matter of great importance with you. It is to be an A-class secret. I would advise you not to tell anyone, you may tell your teammates but I would rather you not." The old man spoke. Naruto pursed his lips but nodded in agreement.

"Okay Jiji, what's got you so riled up?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow. The old man scoffed and smiled at Naruto's brash attitude. He was so much like Kushina it wasn't even funny anymore, whenever he heard that tone of voice he would instantly gain a tick mark and have the need to discipline a certain red head.

Sandaime sighed as he began to talk.

"As you know, the chuunin exams are approaching fast, and this has become an international event. We are hosting it this year so Genin of all ages from all villagers that apply will be arriving very soon to the event. I've called you here to discuss a select few of these Genin that will be attending, of which are Jinchuriki like you." Sandaime said. Naruto's eyes bulged.

"What the hell Jiji? Are you seriously considering letting Jinchuriki from other villagers come _into our_ village where they could possibly, if given the right opportunity, destroy our entire village from the inside out! What are you thinking Jiji? No offence." Naruto practically exploded. Hiruzen closed his eyes as Naruto managed to calm himself down.

He was right, it was a serious breach of security, but the only reason he was allowing this was that Naruto had complete control over his Bijuu and if anything happened, Naruto be crowd control. Hiruzen opened his eyes and gazed at Naruto, studying the boy. Naruto was actually now concerned for the well-being of the village, and letting Jinchuriki from other villagers in was a really bad idea in the blondes' opinion.

"I understand Naruto-kun, but with you here it doesn't matter. You have full control over your Bijuu right?" Sandaime asked expecting Naruto to answer Yes-

"No!" Naruto said with a scowl. Sandaime's eyes widened as a bead of sweat rolled down the back of the old man's neck. He thought Naruto could use all of the Kyuubi's power?

"Well, I mean I am… but the seal put on my body restricts Kurama from giving me all of his power, and I have yet to complete my key… I'm not that far off, there are a few things I need to make sure are correct. I don't want to kill myself if the seals security measures kick in and end up killing both me and Kurama." Naruto said. Sandaime hummed in thought.

"How much of his power can you use?" The old Hokage asked. Naruto shifted uncomfortably and sighed.

"Around forty percent at maximum, and anymore and the seal's backups kick in and start to restrain Kurama. The seal reads it as him forcing his chakra onto me, not us sharing our chakra. I guess dad didn't think that we would become friends and end up sharing. I recognized that the seal was built so I can eventually gain full access to his power, but that's not for another four or five years." Naruto explained. The Sandaime nodded.

"In any case Naruto, you will need to know who they are, and what Bijuu they contain. I've compiled a list, so far there is three Jinchuriki entering the exams. There is another Jinchuriki but he is a lot older than you and is a Jounin of the Kumo." Sandaime said handing Naruto three files.

The blonde took the files and read each name on the cover, each one was provided with a photo of the Jinchuriki themselves. Naruto hummed in thought as he opened the first file.

"_Name: Sabaku no Gaara (Gaara of the Sand)_

_Hidden Village: Sunagakure_

_Shinobi Status: Genin_

_Jinchuriki of: Ichibi / Shukaku _

_Social Status: Son of the Yondaime Kazekage, along with Kankur__ō and Temari._

_Age: Thirteen_

_Gender: Male_

_Abilities: *Classified*_

* * *

_Name: Nii Yugito_

_Hidden Village: Kumogakure_

_Shinobi Status: Genin_

_Jinchuriki of: Nibi / Matatabi_

_Social Status: Orphaned, is under apprenticeship of Kirābī, the Jinchuriki of the Hachibi._

_Age: Fifteen_

_Gender: Female_

_Abilities: *Classified*_

* * *

_Name: Fū_

_Hidden Village: Takigakure_

_Shinobi Status: Genin_

_Jinchuriki of: Nanabi /Chōmei_

_Social Status: *Classified*_

_Age: Thirteen_

_Gender: Female_

_Abilities: *Classified*_

* * *

Naruto looked at the three files with a hard gaze. He didn't like what he was seeing. He didn't know any of their abilities and what kind of things they were capable of. He didn't even know what kind of control they had over their Bijuu and that was a security risk to its absolute finest. He scowled when he looked at Fū's social status.

"_Why would they classify information like that?"_ Naruto asked himself. He wondered how other Jinchuriki were treated in other villagers. He had a sinking feeling that this Fū person had suffered a similar fate to his own, but without the befriending of a Bijuu. Naruto hummed.

"I don't like the idea that their abilities are hidden from us, this other information is quite irrelevant… well at least I know what they look like and I know who to look out for." Naruto said as he looked up at the Hokage and handed back the files. Naruto exhaled and rubbed his temples, he thought these exams where going to be a walk in the park. The revelation of three Jinchuriki unnerved him to no end.

"How are we supposed to make sure they don't do anything stupid while there inside the village? I highly doubt they won't cause any trouble, something is bound to pop up." Naruto said. Then the old man did something Naruto wasn't expecting. He laughed.

"Naruto-kun, I doubt they will try anything while you are in this village." He said. Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean? They don't know anything about me. They won't know I'm the Kyuubi's Jinchuriki until I actually show them, that is unless we have spies in this village…" Naruto said remembering what that Iwa Jounin had said when he was ambushed.

Sandaime chuckled as he opened a draw in the side of his desk. The young blonde narrowed his sea blue eyes on the old man. Sarutobi pulled a small book out of the draw and tossed it to Naruto. The blonde caught it with one hand and looked at it. His eyes widened when he saw the title.

"The Bingo Book… What's this about Jiji?" Naruto said staring at the book. The old Hokage chuckled as he gestured to the book.

"Look at page forty two; I think you might want to see what's on there." Hiruzen said as he watched Naruto open the book and turn the pages. The Hokage kept his amused look when Naruto got to the page he told him about. The look on Naruto's face displayed absolute shock as his eyes darted over the pages contents.

Naruto looked up at the old man with a pale look on his face.

"What the… fuck? I'm an S-rank Shinobi with an order to flee on sight? When the fuck did this happen!?" Naruto said looking back to the page. Then he saw it. His hands clenched, making them go white. At the bottom of the page, was the signature of the very person it was written and published by.

"_That dammed Tsuchikage! This is for that incident in the Wave… he gets his best shinobi to try and capture me, they fail so he puts my name in the bingo book with a capture request on my name, and a flee on sight order. This is so fucked; everyone's going to know my name in this exam…"_ Naruto thought as he ran his hand through his hair.

"Every Genin is going to be warned about you in this exam by they're sensei's. I have no doubt they will tell they're Genin to run if they even catch sight of you. It says you know the Hiraishin and most of the Yondaime's techniques. However, it does not say that you are Kyuubi's Jinchuriki, that's your only secret in this exam." Hiruzen said. Naruto sighed.

"Great, I'm a glorified beacon that tells everyone to 'stay the fuck away'. I don't want that, I want to bring peace to this world, not intimidate it by using fear. So much for surprises, everyone's probably studied my skills and has every counter for me." Naruto took another look at the page.

"Great! It even says I have an affinity in Fūton Jutsu! I used two wind jutsus! Two! And they go and assume I have an affinity for the element, and they got a lucky draw. Fuck!" Naruto exclaimed. Sandaime rolled his eyes.

"Calm down Naruto-kun. This is sort of a good thing, people will try their best to avoid you in the exam, and that means they won't cause you any trouble. This exam will be easy for you." Hiruzen said. Naruto's eyes rose a little at this.

"Say, wouldn't be able to tell me what the exams have in them would you?" Naruto asked hopefully. Hiruzen chuckled and shook his head.

"Nice try Naruto-kun, but I will not be telling you such a thing. That'll be too easy for someone like you. I plan to make it more challenging for your team. Don't think I haven't been watching your team's progression. I have to say, you have done a nice make over with Sakura. She looks like a fine kunoichi." Hiruzen stated with a smile. Naruto's face remained passive.

"Pervert." Naruto said turning away from the old man. The Sandaime face faulted in his seat. The old man sat up in his chair and gave Naruto a stern look.

"I think you have me all wrong Naruto, I am not a pervert, I do not like watching beautiful women dress well and peek on them in the baths." Hiruzen said indignantly. Naruto smirked as he turned his head slightly.

"Oh? And what do you actually use that magical ball for? I know what it can do, and don't act like you have one of my _godfather's_ silly perverted books of smut hiding in your desk. I've seen you trying to hide it when I come to visit. Don't think you can try sleight of hand with me, I know all the tricks." Naruto accused. Hiruzen's eyes widened as his hand drifted towards the draw that he kept the work of art in.

"_Smut!? Jiraiya-kun's art is godlike! There is nothing better!"_ The old Hokage thought as he tried to erase Naruto's words from his mind. Naruto shook his head as he turned to exit the door.

"And here I thought I was going to be sympathetic and tell you the secret way to beat the paperwork…" Naruto said with a cheeky grin. Hiruzen froze. The old man's eyes went bloodshot as he gaze upon Naruto's chuckling form.

"_He's bluffing!" _ Hiruzen told himself.

"You think there's a way to beat the deadly force known as paperwork? Enlighten me Naruto-kun." Sarutobi asked, hopping to trick Naruto into telling him. Naruto put a hand to his chin as he looked at in the ceiling in contemplation.

"Na, I'm okay." Naruto said as he waved at the old Hokage. The old man shot towards Naruto, intent to send him to the I&T department just to get the answer out of him, he **_NEEDED_** to know!

"Bye, bye Jiji!" Naruto said as he flashed out of the office. Hiruzen landed in the empty spot that Naruto had just been a second ago. Hiruzen shook with rage as he let out a loud bellow that could be heard across the land of fire.

"DAM YOU MINATOOOOOO!"

* * *

A few days later, it was about a week and a half till the chuunin exams and Sakura and Naruto decided the best way to relax was to go have a nice few hours of relaxation at an uncovered bathhouse.

So here they were, relaxing in their respective gender bathhouse areas. They had considered going to a mixed one, but they decided against it because they were trying to relax, not trying to speed up their hormonal progression rate.

Naruto had settled in the bath he was the only one around in the male side and he was busy resting up against one of the sides, closer to the women's side. Over on that side, he could hear a number of voices, one being Sakura and others that he faintly recognized but couldn't put a face to them.

About forty minutes passed before he could hear something strange. A noise of sorts, the noise of a male, giggling from above and the faint sound of a pencil scribbling on a piece of paper. Soft shuffling could be heard from above him. Naruto frowned as a single leaf dropped down into the hot spring and floated on the surface of the water, right in front of him.

He looked up and his eyes widened in shock and disgust.

Up in one of the tree branches over hanging the hot spring was a fairly large man with very long white hair. He had a large red coat with an overly large scroll on his back. The man had red lines from the bottom of his eyes, trailing down his face towards his chin. This man was none other than Jiraiya of the Sannin.

And also Naruto's so called Godfather.

Naruto looked around for a moment and found an unusually large rock and picked it up. Testing its size for a moment, throwing it up and down in his palm, judging how hard to throw it. He looked back up at Jiraiya and smirked evilly, took aim with his hand, and promptly threw the rock as hard as he could at the man's unaware head.

"Hmph!" The man known as Jiraiya said as he fell out of his spot and into the women's section. A loud splash was heard as water was thrown up into the air, even from his side of the hot spring Naruto could clearly see that the water was thrown in the air. There was complete silence, until…

"KYAAA!" Countless screams, including Sakura could be heard for miles. Naruto slightly giggled to himself, this was only the start of the torment. Never had he thought that today would be the day he would be meeting his godfather…. time to get to work then, the man had a deep debt to pay.

"Now hold on second ladies! I c-can explain!" The man's panicked voice said as he was backing up against the wall the separated the male and the female side of the hot springs. There were evil growls on the other side, some even animalistic, but none other could compare to one pink haired girl who was now burning with absolute rage.

"HENTAI!" She screamed. There was a sound of flesh meeting flesh and bones' cracking as Jiraiya was sent through the wall that separated the two sides. He tumbled backwards, and into the water. Naruto had just managed to avoid the perverted lecher by ducking and letting the man fly harmlessly over his head.

Jiraiya sank to the bottom of the male hot spring, a stream of blood trailing up to the surface of the water. Naruto turned to the entrance of the large man sized hole to see a group of females, all of which were now covered in white towels, and the one in front who had thrown the punch was none other than Sakura herself. Her eyes were burning; her veins were throbbing to inhuman levels forming a huge tick mark on her head. Naruto nodded in approval.

"Nice hit, I'd give you a ten out of ten for effort, but seven for execution." Naruto said with a sly grin. Sakura pouted comically and dropped her shoulders in a disappointed manner.

"Aw man, I was going for at least a nine!" Sakura sighed as Jiraiya finally surfaced floating on his stomach. He was unconscious.

"Well, better not let him drown, I still have to kick his ass for leaving me alone." Naruto said as he swam over than pushed the heavy useless lump out of the hot spring. Naruto got up out of the spring, a towel already around his waist. A couple of the females on the other side of the broken wall pouted in disappointment.

Naruto turned to the girls, and then turned to Jiraiya.

"You know what, only Sakura got to punch him, I think it's only fair that you all have your spin with the pervert." Naruto said as he dragged the unconscious form of Jiraiya and dropped it in front of the hole made by Sakura. All the girls had even grins with stars in their eyes.

"Make sure you leave him alive, he is my godfather after all, I don't want to have to resurrect him and then kill him again." Naruto said as he walked off. Unfortunately, the poor toad sage was unlucky to awake at that moment in time to see Naruto walk off.

"Wait-!" was all the words he managed to get out before the sadistic torture started. Jiraiya's screams could be heard all across the Land of Fire.

* * *

"Stay still Jiraiya-sama!" Sakura said as she gave him a light punch to his already broken ribs. The toad sage silently screamed, but only let out a whimper.

Naruto, Sakura and Jiraiya were back at Naruto's apartment. Jiraiya was sitting in a chair opposite of Naruto who sat in his seat glaring at the toad sage like he was the worst thing in the world. Jiraiya was wondering what he did to this boy, come to think of it, he had sworn he had seen this boy somewhere before, in a picture or somewhat.

"Could you stop looking at me like that gaki? You're giving me the creeps." Jiraiya said. Naruto narrowed his eyes further making Jiraiya squirm a bit more. Sakura was trying her best to heal the broken bones and lacerations that she and the other females had caused, but with him moving around it was almost impossible.

"What the hell were you doing peeking on the girls hot springs?" Naruto said with a sigh. Jiraiya grinned like it wasn't a bad thing that he was caught doing it. In fact he looked like he was use to these sorts of beatings.

"I was doing research for my new book! I have to keep my fans happy somehow." Jiraiya said with a grin. Sakura just wanted to break his bones again just out of sheer anger but only just refrained from doing so. Naruto just glared at the toad sage, wondering what so say. He was more or less passing the time so he could just beat up the old man and have Sakura heal him again, then do it again.

And then repeat the process a few times over.

"You're a disgusting pervert you know right?" Naruto deadpanned. Jiraiya looked insulted and snorted.

"I'm not a pervert." He said simply with a frown on his face. He had turned serious; it was like he took it as an insult! Naruto and Sakura looked at him evilly until Jiraiya's face brightened into a cheeky smirk.

"I'm a super pervert!" He exclaimed loudly. Sakura and Naruto face faulted. Naruto got to his feet and rubbed the bridge of his nose while he closed his eyes in embarrassment and disappointment. The man was an idiot! And the worst kind of one as well!

Sakura got up and crossed her arms over her chest and turned away from Jiraiya, trying to stop herself from flattening the bastard into a Sannin-pancake.

"What? I don't even – You know what? I don't care; I'm not going to ask." Naruto stated as he sat down and put his hands on his head and ran them through his hair. Jiraiya raised an eyebrow at Naruto's actions.

Where had he seen this kid before? He reminded him of Minato and a little bit of Kushina. Maybe he was…

"Hey gaki, what's your name? You look familiar, I think I've seen you in a book somewhere or maybe I'm forgetting something." Jiraiya said as he put a hand to his chin and rubbed it in thought as he studied Naruto. Naruto turned red with rage, but sat glued to his chair, he would explode on him all at once.

Blonde spiky hair and whisker marks on his cheeks. He had Minato's deep blue eyes and Kushina's well-rounded face. Jiraiya looked at the boy for about a minute before coming to the horrible realization of who this boy was. It had been twelve or thirteen years since the last time he had been here, and this boy… yeah he was definitely their son.

Jiraiya gaped and then swallowed hard. Naruto grinned sadistically and got up from his chair cracking his knuckles.

"I see you have figured it out… you don't seem like the idiot I made you out to be. Well how rude of me? I should introduce myself, the names Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto and for some strange reason my parents decided to name two of the most irresponsible people in the entire world to be my godparents. Let's go outside shall we?" Naruto said as he grabbed Jiraiya's hand and pulled him outside.

"W-Where are we going g-gaki?!" Jiraiya said as he squirmed in the inhuman grip Naruto had on his hand. Naruto turned and gave Jiraiya a smirk that only Tsunade gave him before she was going to beat the living daylights out of him.

"Anger management class, except I'm the student and you're the teacher I get to take everything out on." Naruto said as he dragged Jiraiya without any further questions on the matter. Sakura walked behind them slowly, chuckling to herself at how doomed the Sannin was.

"Wait gaki! I don't think that's how it works!" Jiraiya said as he was now really trying to pull away from Naruto, but the boy had an amazing grip on him and just wouldn't let go! Not to mention the ridiculous strength behind that grip! For some of the very rare times in his life, Jiraiya of the legendary Sannin was scared for his life.

"Let's GO!" Naruto said yanking him to a training ground.

"NOOOOOO!"

* * *

Sakura, Naruto and Hiruzen stood in a hospital room while at least three nurses treated and healed the now broken, battered, pile of bloodied flesh that was Jiraiya. The man was in so much pain, he couldn't even cry, Naruto made sure of that. He couldn't move, he couldn't even move his eyes. The only thing he could do was groan.

Naruto had broken every bone in both of his legs, arms and had broken both of is collar bones. Not to mention hitting the already downed man with a powerful Katon jutsu a few times. Naruto made sure not to do anything to lethal, couldn't go killing his godfather when he first met the man. Despite not being there for him, he was still family in a way and Naruto was sure he was now feeling regret and guilt after what Naruto put him through.

The old Sarutobi sweat dropped as he looked at the form that was Jiraiya. He sighed and turned to Naruto.

"I think you over did it a little there Naruto… I did ask him to come back for this year's chuunin exams for a while to act as an extra hand in security." Hiruzen said as he watched Jiraiya slowly heal from all the lacerations, burns and broken bones. Naruto smirked and chuckled a little.

"Oh he'll be fine; he's a Sannin I'm sure he's had worse." Naruto muttered. Sarutobi internally chuckled nervously.

"_Oh I'm not so sure about that…"_ He thought as he pushed those thoughts out of his head as Naruto continued.

"Yeah, it's not like he's the only one that's going to be getting this kind of treatment. Next on my list of 'almost kill these people' is my dear Baa-chan, Tsunade." Naruto said with a saint like smile. That smile spelled doom for the women, even Sarutobi and Sakura got the shivers when they saw that smile.

Sakura gulped nervously.

"_Oh god! It's that smile! The only time I saw that was when I ate the last instant ramen that was in the apartment… One cannot un-see the things that transpired. If Tsunade-sama is on that sort of list to give Naruto that smile, I fear for her life!"_ Sakura thought comically as Inner Sakura shrunk to the nearest corners of her mind, trying to escape the past experiences.

It was at this point that Jiraiya became conscious of his surroundings once again. He was mostly healed except for the broken bones but he was able to look around and talk to people now that the pretty nurses had healed him to a point where he could talk once again. Jiraiya turned his head to Naruto who was still smiling.

"O-Okay… I deserved that gaki, I haven't been the godfather I should have been, and nothing I can say or do can make up for the twelve years of neglect. For what it's worth, I'm truly sorry." Jiraiya said looking down on himself, lying in the hospital bed in complete shame. Naruto laughed a little surprising them.

"Na, its fine… you can make up for it, besides, I've realized what I want out of life now. You see growing up; none of this would have happened if I didn't meet Kurama that night on my eighth birthday. I wouldn't have become the person I was today, so I guess in a way, it's okay… but I'm still not even close to happy with what you and Tsunade did, you both had no excuse to up and leave the village when you clearly had a responsibility to raise me."

Jiraiya looked at the ceiling in thought, he wondered what Naruto was going to do, but if anything Tsunade left the village because of heart ache, it was too painful for her to be in the village. After losing her only beloved in life and losing her younger brother, it was painful to even be in the village.

"Take it easy on her kid, she's wouldn't be to forgiving if you went and beat the crap out of her. She's just had a lot of personal problems that she hasn't been able to sort out for a while." Jiraiya said. Naruto scowled and then that scowl turned to full blown anger.

"That's the reason she didn't take care of me? Personal problems, that's so pathetic I don't even know what to say." Naruto said with a scowl. Jiraiya's frowned, he had to back up Tsunade here.

"Naruto be reasonable, she's lost a lot of people to his village, a lot of people she really loved and cared for. To return here would bring her too much heart ache for her to even bare." Jiraiya said trying to reason with the boy. Naruto growled.

"Be reasonable?! Are you fucking kidding me? She's just as responsible as you are! My parents named both of you my godparents so that you could raise me if something happened to them. If she thinks that just because she's lost some people she loved, if she thinks she can brush off the responsibility of raising her godson who had been, abused, beaten, kicked out of stores, denied the most basic of human rights, and left to the mercy of the village then she has another thing coming. I'm not taking any kind of excuse from her if that's the best she can come up with." Naruto ranted.

Jiraiya was silent, the kid made a lot of sense in a way. She truly did not have a legitimate excuse. People die, that happens in the world on shinobi and to add fuel to the fire, she had more than enough years to get over it.

"People die in this world, shit happens. I've read that she's been like that for years. Hell it's happened so long ago that it's even in a book to begin with! If she tries that shit on me, I'm going to beat her so hard into the ground she's going to have to heal herself!" Naruto said storming out of the room.

"Naruto, where are you going!?" Sakura called out as Naruto slammed the door behind him shocking most of hospital staff, the Hokage and Jiraiya.

"To destroy something!" Naruto called back, answering Sakura's question. Sakura just put a hand to her head and ran it through her pink hair with a sigh. She turned back to Jiraiya with a sad look on her face.

"I use to look up to Tsunade-sama. I study her scrolls, trained the way she did but I feel really disheartened now I've heard about this. You and Tsunade-sama should have both raised Naruto! Do you know the kind of crap he went through here in this village? Hell, I'm one of the people that abused him and I still can't help but feel guilty about it. You're just lucky he doesn't want to kill her." Sakura said as she sat down.

There was silence for a few moments before Jiraiya spoke up again.

"Sensei, why does Naruto even know about his parents anyway? I thought it was supposed to be kept a secret?" He asked. Hiruzen sighed as he sat down in a seat opposite that of Sakura's. The old man sighed before speaking.

"The night on his eighth birthday was when it all changed; it was the first night where every kind of secret that was kept to keep him safe was broken. He met the Kyuubi, and he told Naruto everything he ever wanted to know. Right now, I don't think there is anyone that Naruto trusts more than Kyuubi." Sarutobi said. Jiraiya frowned.

"Sensei, you let the Kyuubi talk to Naruto? That's dangerous! What if he's manipulating him!? You know how it worked with Kushina, the Kyuubi tried to get out every chance he could! Now I bet you he's trying a different approach!" Jiraiya exclaimed but Sarutobi shook his head.

"That's not the case Jiraiya. I have watched Naruto even more closely since that day and he has grown up into an incredible person. Naruto has dedicated his life to your goal, finding peace in this cursed world. His dream is to become Hokage and bring peace to the world. He is also extremely powerful; he came into contact with two Akatsuki members that consistent of Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame and managed to force them into some kind of retreat. Hell he's even in the bingo book as an S-rank Shinobi of the Leaf!" Hiruzen exclaimed.

Jiraiya's eyes widened in realization as he reached into one of his pockets and pulled out one of the latest copy of the bingo book. He flicked through the pages until he came to Naruto's. He exhaled deeply when he read the abilities over. He knew he had read about his godson in a book somewhere…

"I can't believe it… he managed to master the Hiraishin? Sensei, what exactly happened after that night!? It's like he went from being a child to a man all in one night! Someone can't go from not even knowing a simple chakra controlling exercise when their eight, to four years later and knowing something as powerful as the Hiraishin! What aren't you telling me Sensei?"

Sarutobi chuckled at Jiraiya's gaping face, there was a time when he bore such faces when witnessing the incredible feats that Naruto was pulling off, but that time was long gone. He had come to know Naruto as the most surprising ninja ever to grace the shinobi nations. There was none other just like him, and that's what made the boy so special.

"I'll tell you what, the secret behind Naruto was that I gave him the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. He had the potential, he had the means, all he needed was the tools and that's what I gave him. It's that simple."

Jiraiya's face gaped once again at this realization. He was no stranger to the uses of Kage Bunshin; he also knew what they were capable of. They're main use was to gather information, and when they dispelled, the memories and information where sent back to the original. Jiraiya rubbed his temples.

"How many can the gaki make?" He asked. Hiruzen coughed slightly before answering.

"About maybe five hundred, a thousand if he pushes himself." The old Hokage replied. Jiraiya lay back in his bed with his hand on his forehead. The possibilities for someone like Naruto with that kind of jutsu behind him were endless. He had the means, and was given the tools; the boy just took advantage of what he had.

He was going to be a true genius.

"Well shit that explains it. He's at least our level in terms of knowledge and skill. Man I don't even know what to say. Does he know how to control the Kyuubi's chakra?" Jiraiya asked. Hiruzen nodded with a smile.

"Better, both he and the fox have formed a bond. Naruto utilizes a transformation state that increases his strength, speed and reaction time by almost six times what it should be. I should know, I have fought with it myself." Hiruzen said.

"Yeah, so have I, and it's not fun let me tell you that." Sakura said now coming out of her quiet zone. They both turned to her with frowns. She sighed as she began to explain.

"When we spar he comes at me with everything he has. He seems to think that fighting people that have the potential to kill you will make you stronger, and I have to give him credit, I'm not the same girl I was five months ago." Sakura said as she crossed her legs in her seat.

Both Sannin and Hokage hummed. Jiraiya pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Well this isn't what I was expecting when I returned to the village. I remember now where I saw Naruto, I remember reading the bingo book a while ago, and I must have forgotten it was him. When you requested me to come back for security in the chuunin exams, I was quite eager to meet him, forgetting I ever saw him in the bingo book. To tell you the truth, I was planning on teaching the kid a few things, like how to control the Kyuubi's chakra, but I think it's clear that he already knows how to do that." Jiraiya sighed.

Sakura got up and stretched a little before yawning.

"Well, while you two chat I'm going to go find Naruto. I can't let him destroy too much stuff otherwise we will have to start paying for repairs! See you Jiraiya-sama, Hokage-sama." Sakura said she bowed slightly before leaving to go and find Naruto. Jiraiya gulped a little.

"She reminds me way to much of Kushina and Tsunade. I hope gaki is alright with having her around." The white haired toad Sannin said. The old man laughed a little as the two moved on to more casual topics that didn't involve Naruto.

* * *

The young blonde Jinchuriki was making his way to Team Seven's training ground to blow off some steam. As he walked he was looking up towards the sky in deep thought. He was quite troubled; he was annoyed that he was so easily ticked off when Tsunade's name was mentioned. At least Jiraiya had openly apologized for his mistakes and explicitly stated he had no excuse.

He couldn't help but think Tsunade was going to try and spout all kinds of shit to keep herself out of trouble.

He rounded a corner and walked into the training ground and practically stopped in his tracks as he examined what the sight was before him. He narrowed his eyes at sight or commotion before him. Before his eyes, were two teams who seemed to be in an argument over something because there were two representatives of each team going at each other's throats?

The first one was a girl from Kumogakure, light red hair and light brown eyes. She had a bandana over her head with her Hitai-ate on it which kept her hair nicely out of her eyes. She also had a light brown skin tone which looked very smooth. The most obvious trait about this girl was her mouth; she was just as loud as the other kid she was engaged with.

This other kid was a male in a full black body suit that had cat ears. The boy had war paint on his face and he had a Sunagakure Hitai-ate. He also had quite a large scroll on his back, and from what Naruto was observing, he was just itching to take out and prove his skill.

The others of each team were a step backward from each their two fighting comrades. Naruto was about to walk before someone who he hadn't talked to in a long time spoke up.

"**_There are three Jinchuriki in that group. Only two of whom you have read, the other one is the Jinchuriki of the Hachibi."_** Kurama said. Naruto smiled for once in a while when he heard the old fuzz butts voice.

"_Oh hey there Kurama how was hibernation? Hope you enjoyed it because we got some serious competition if we are going up against other Jinchuriki's."_ Naruto said as he stayed in his spot observing the fighting group who still hadn't noticed him.

"**_Shut it brat, I was just taking naps and nothing particularly interesting has happened lately. However it seems that the excitement has been sparking lately. Four Jinchuriki's in this village for the chuunin exams, oh the reunions I will be having. Someone get me a hanky, I might even cry."_** Kurama snorted. Naruto laughed a little as he began to walk forward.

_"Oh shut up you fuzz ball, you don't cry."_ Naruto mocked, Kurama snorted and went back to snoozing.

Finally the argument reached a boiling point where the two shinobi jumped back ready to bring out their big weapons and go in for the kill. Naruto decided that it was at this point, he was going to step in and put a stop to this.

"Excuse me; I hope you aren't planning on attacking one another. It wouldn't look so good if you returned to your villages in a body bag." Naruto said casually walking into the scene. The red head turned to him and started to speak.

"Oh? And who the fuck do you think you're… talking… too." She said as she trailing off. Naruto raised an eyebrow as the girl who was starting to sweat visibly as she realized just who she had insulted. Her, and every single one of the groups eyes widened as they looked at Naruto.

"_Oh shit! Oh fuck it's him! Konoha's next flash!" _The majority of the group thought. A certain largely built man who sat cross legged under the shade of a tree, wearing sun glasses looked up at Naruto and raised an eyebrow.

"_Ah, so that's the kid big bro warned us about… he doesn't look like much, but then again, looks don't mean that much, yo." _ Kirābī thought, but before he could think any further, his inner tenant brought something up.

"**_He's a Jinchuriki… hmm, that's Kyuubi's chakra I sense inside of the boy. Bee, he's dangerous. You have to warn your team to stay away from him at all costs." _**Hachibi warned. Bee laughed as he started to rap again.

"_Miss Two is gonna do fine yo! As long as she got the sense to keep away from Mr Nine, she just gonna be just fine!"_ Be rapped. Hachibi wanted to face palm, but he was long since use to his containers persistent bad rapping skills. Hell, Bee even had him doing it sometimes.

Meanwhile, Nii Yugito was observing and studying the boy every way she could. She didn't like the fact that this kid was still a Genin and no doubt he would be in the chuunin exams. He was an S-rank Shinobi in the bingo books and Iwagakure wanted his head for some reason, but if the Tsuchikage wanted this kid enough to label him S-rank and with a flee on sight order, then this kid is not to be messed with.

"_He looks so… calm, his posture is so confident and at the same time… I feel like he could kill any single one of us at any second."_ She thought. The Matatabi or the Nibi decided to speak up inside of her tenant as well.

"**_Kitten, if you want to keep your life… stay away from that kid in these exams… he smells like a fox, - no, that's Kyuubi's chakra I'm picking up! Kitten that kid is the Kyuubi's Jinchuriki!"_** Nibi warned. Yugito paled a little at this.

_"Are you kidding me? He's the famed Yondaime Hokage's son AND the Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi no Yōkō? What kind of powerhouse is this kid!?"_ She thought as she examined the blonde boy over, not daring to move a single muscle.

Over on another side of the field, a red head boy with a large gourd on his back stood firm looking at the blonde haired, Yondaime look-alike. However this boy wasn't thinking anything in particular, all he wanted was this boy's blood, his mother craved for it, demanded it.

"_He will be the one to prove my existence, yes, MOTHER WILL TASTE HIS BLOOD!"_ Sabaku no Gaara thought with a crazy blood-lust, but he had to wait… yes… he had to bide his time and wait for the perfect opportunity to rip the flesh from his bones, to kill this boy, will finally prove his existence.

Naruto eyed each one with Kurama's help. His eyes darted from each Jinchuriki to the next before residing on another blonde haired girl who he could practically smell the fear rolling off her the most. Kurama added that she smelt like a cat, leading Naruto to come to the conclusion that she was the Jinchuriki of the Nibi.

"So, we have the Ichibi, Nibi and the Hachibi Jinchuriki here, where the Chōmei I have no clue. How quaint, this is quite exciting. Oh, if you haven't figured it out yet, I'm Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto. Now if you please, you're in my training ground. Please leave, I just had an annoying convocation with my annoying godfather and I need to take out some anger on this here training ground you are standing in. I'd rather not be responsible for a massacre." Naruto smiled as he gestured to the way out of the training ground.

All of the people except Killer Bee and Gaara gaped at Naruto as his smile turned into a serious face. None of them dared to reply, fearing they might say something to get on the wrong side of this kid.

"I'm actually serious, get out. I don't want to have to physically kick you out." Naruto said. It was at this moment when Kirābī got up and walked over to Naruto with a smile on his face.

"Yo Mr Nine, your Hokage said we could use this training ground! My team needs to practice how they are going to work together this time round!" He rapped. Naruto gaped at the man's speech pattern. Even Kurama sweet dropped at this man's speech.

**_"Man, I actually feel bad for Hachibi, must suck to be in there…"_** Kurama sympathized, Naruto mentally nodded in agreement. Naruto narrowed his eyes at the man before slowly nodding at the man that seemed to love to rap every sentence he uttered. However Naruto internally shifted nervously.

"_He called me 'Mr Nine'; obviously the Nibi and the Ichibi have figured it out to." _Naruto said as he peered over to Yugito who indivertibly flinched from his gaze. He chuckled internally a little.

Damm. Was he really that scary? Naruto laughed internally. Of course he was!

"Ooookay? Sure, I guess it's alright then. No problems here." Naruto sarcastically said as he turned around and walked away, but then he turned around and looked at the group again and eyed the group.

"I don't like the fact that there are four Jinchuriki in my village at the moment. It makes me feel a little uneasy about the safety of my people and my friends. Let me make one thing clear." Naruto spoke, trying to make himself as clear as possible. Everyone tensed a little, even Bee.

"If I see any single one of you up to something, I will kill you to preserve the safety of my village. Hokage, Raikage, Kazekage be dammed. I'll go the grave protecting my village if any single one of you threatens it, and I'll show no mercy." Naruto said as his eyes changed to a blood red color with a black slit down the middle, giving him an insane blood-lust. His eyes then changed back and he dawned a happy-go-lucky smile.

"One that note, have a nice day and good luck in the exams!" Naruto said as he walked out of the training ground. Everyone was gaping at the leaving form of Naruto, wondering how he managed to go from deadly killer to a happy child in the space of seconds. It made them wonder just how good he _really_ was to have that much confidence in himself.

* * *

Naruto was decided to walk back to his apartment and sleep off his anger, until he ran into his pink haired teammate/roommate. She dropped down from one of the roofs and landed in front of him with her arms crossed over her chest. Naruto smiled.

"Hey Sakura, I was going to go and throw around some Rasengan's at our training ground but some team from Kumo has it to practice because of some permissions from Hokage-Jiji. I'm heading back to the apartment to get some rest. I'm going to spend this last week relaxing." Naruto said as they started to walk side by side.

"Well I'm going to study some more of Tsunade-sama's scrolls. I'm going to see if I can get this super strength down some more. I have it about half way, I just need to memories some of the ways she does it. It would help if she was actually teaching me." Sakura pouted a little. She was really becoming more and more like a Kunoichi every single day.

She hadn't shown her outfit to any of her classmates like Ino or anyone else. Only person who knew other thank Naruto was Kakashi-sensei and he had only stumbled upon her by accident when she and Naruto were training. Naruto laughed as he turned to Sakura.

"Are you kidding? You can make craters in the ground just by punching it. Are you saying there is still more power behind the techniques my godmother developed?" Naruto said with disbelieving eyes. Sakura nodded as her eyebrows furrowed.

"Of course there is! The scrolls state that I'm only doing it half right. I have to increase the output of my chakra and learn to build up more chakra in my fists and legs before I release them. Tsunade was rumored to create earthquakes with her power and techniques. I'm only able to make small craters. I've read that she could literally split the ground in half… create fissures with one punch!" Sakura exclaimed.

Naruto chuckled, she sounded like an excited school girl, but he couldn't blame her. This was her first real insight into the shinobi world, the type of power she was capable of and she really wanted to push herself to attain those limits.

"So how do you think Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei are doing? You think he's improved?" He asked. Sakura hummed to herself for a minute before responding.

"Yeah, there's no doubt about it. Sasuke will have improved just as much as I have. He had Kakashi-sensei to train him, and Kakashi-sensei is one of Konoha's most talented and deadly ninja to date! I'm sure he has some knew skills up his sleeve." She said. Naruto nodded with a smile.

"Yeah, but you have your share of tricks and devious schemes up your sleeves. I should know, you have tried them on me during our sparing sessions. I was actually surprised you managed to dose me with more than thirty different poisons in the space of one Taijutsu spar. Oh yeah, that reminds me." Naruto said stopped in his tracks. Sakura turned to him questionably.

"Sakura, for your benefit, I need to tell you I'm not the only Jinchuriki in these exams. There are three people in this exam that your poisons possibility won't work on." Naruto started. Sakura narrowed her eyes. She was quite annoyed to hear this.

She had specially prepared a number of poisons to fit all different purposes, but she had always thought that it was just Naruto that they were ineffective against. It was then she realized that against Jinchuriki, most of her poisons were not even worth trying, because Naruto had told her that the Bijuu would increase the temperature of their containers blood stream and effectively burn off the poisons before they can even take effect.

"Not to say I don't have my fair share of surprises." Naruto smirked with a giggle. Sakura narrowed her eyes at him.

"What aren't you telling me? Have you developed a secret technique that you haven't showed me yet? That's so unfair! You have to show me!" Sakura pouted. Naruto smirked as he poked fun at her.

"Well, you wouldn't be able to handle the awesomeness of the technique. Its awesomeness transcends the very dimensions of awesomeness." Naruto ranted. Sakura bonked him on the head causing a comical large red bump to form on top of his head.

"Seriously, you can tell me. I'm not going to go and babble about it to everyone in the village." Sakura said with a snort. Naruto sighed.

"Fine, it's a special variation of the Rasengan. I managed to combine it with my Fūton affinity, but it's still sort of unstable, and the sheer destructive power is massive, just as great as a _Bijudama_. I don't know what I'm going to call it, I've only used it twice, but I can only use it in Bijuu mode otherwise its sheer power and strain would break and shatter my arm." Naruto said. Sakura raised her eyebrows and nodded, impressed with what her teammate had managed to accomplish.

"Well, I hope I get to see it in these coming exams. Sounds like an interesting technique." She said. Naruto laughed and shook his head.

"I don't plan on using any of Kurama's chakra in this exam unless I absolutely have it. Plus, that technique is easily S-rank. I wouldn't use it on someone unless they were out to murder innocent people or seriously threaten me, my friends or the village. It's a technique I don't want to have to use unless there is no other option." Naruto said.

The two walked in silence. Sakura turned and smirked at Naruto.

"Well I guess these exams are going to be something to remember." She said. Naruto looked up at the blue sky, his eyes reflecting the sun light making his eyes shine brightly, glowing in the ocean-like crystal blue.

"Yeah… it will be."

* * *

A/N: Alright, Chuunin Exams are approaching! And I promise, things aren't going to be the same as Cannon. _**DO NOT**_ except the same cliche written test, and then forest of death and then the one on one battles. I do plan on having the forest of death in here as it is an important event, but it will have a large twist and impact on team seven, and I assure you guys that you will not see what I have planned coming. (I really hope you don't. Trying to be semi-original here).

Things are going to start getting difficult for Naruto and co. I will try make my own pathway from here on. The four Jinchuriki are here for a reason, and they will serve their purpose in due time. They aren't just there to look cool and own people.

Lastly, as I have said before, I'm going to tone down the Sasuke bashing from now on. He will be more level headed now after these time skips and won't be, very rarely, be bashed.

I'll see you guys later!

Next Chapter: Deadly Exams and Snake Tactics


	6. Deadly Exams and Snake Tactics

A/N: Hey guys, I am feeling like it was time to update again! So these are the start of the chuunin exams. Here is where things start to get ruff for our young hero of the hidden leaf!

Firstly I would like to thank all of you guys who have followed and Favorited me and even left a review! In one month since I first posted this story, I am at least two hundred and fifty/three hundred (something like that) away from hitting 1000 followers and favorites! I could never imagine that this story would get so much attention so fast! I am amazed so I would like to thank you guys for all the good feedback and for even reading this story.

Now with the Bashing on Sasuke, from now on it will be very toned down, as in his bashing will be light, but there will be none of the "I'm an Uchiha, bow before me." Type of crap anymore. Reading the past chapters I've posted, i get a rather sour face reading it. So from now on, he'll be bashed lightly and more subtly. This means that be will be more quiet and will listen to people and take advice from them because he views himself as too weak. Don't get me wrong, i still hate Sasuke, i just don't want to waste time bashing him when i could be writing other cool scenes. And this also doesn't mean he'll get his fair share of beat downs.

Nothing new on the Harem, sorry.

On with the story!

* * *

Chapter Six

It was exactly one week before the exams when Kakashi called a team meeting at the training ground. He mainly called it to give the three their permission slips for the exams but he really just wanted to see how much they had improved as individuals. He was also quite interested in seeing how Sakura had improved under Naruto's tutelage.

When he arrived at his normal time, where he was a good three hours late, he found all three members of his squad arriving a few seconds after him, all with a mocking smile. Kakashi pouted slightly before examining them.

He knew what Sasuke looked like; Sasuke had retained his normal blue shirt and white shorts with his white padded wrist guards. The only thing that was noticeably different about the young Uchiha was his muscles and his look. While Kakashi had been training Sasuke over the five month period, he had beaten him senseless. Smashed that superiority out of his head and correctly turned Sasuke into a proficient shinobi.

The boy still kept himself quiet most of the time but now he would never think that he was better than everyone else, Kakashi smiled when Sasuke saw the true error of his ways. Sasuke had changed not just physically, but mentally as well. He still liked to think of himself as an 'Elite', but that was okay because he was skilled for his age, he did have the gifted bloodline of the Sharingan, but his arrogance was much, much less than what it was normally.

Next on the list was Naruto. Now the normal calm legacy of the Yondaime hadn't changed much, well, at least not visibly to the silver haired scarecrow. He still wore his normal clothing with his trench coat on, with the black flames around the edges. Nothing much had changed about Naruto except for his body shape.

He had become a lot physically stronger, his muscles had become more defined and his eyes were a lot sharper, almost like a hawk looking for food as it flies over head. It almost looked like he was tense? But what could make the blonde so tense like that? Maybe there was something on his mind, he couldn't tell, he wasn't a mind reader but he could clearly see that something was bothering the boy.

Lastly was Sakura, and oh boy did she surprise him. Never in a million years had Kakashi pictured Sakura to look like this. When he had first seen her, she was training with Naruto, but he had only gotten a glimpse of her, and even then he didn't exactly believe what he saw.

The innocent little pink haired girl looked _sexy_ and _extremely dangerous_. That outfit she wore reminded him a whole lot of one of his colleagues Mitarashi Anko. That scary thought was enough to make Kakashi pale behind his mask. He hoped she wouldn't grow up to become like Anko.

Out of the three she had clearly changed the most; her muscles where much more defined and quite thin and cut. Her hair was cut just like Ankos' which donned that pineapple like shape when it was tied at the back. And she wore clothing that Kakashi found hard to describe because if he feared if he looked too long she might actually hurt him!

He eye smiled as he held out three papers in front of him. The three Genin took the papers without hesitation and began to sign their names on the paper.

"Now I should let you three know that these exams are quite dangerous. This year is quite special, since we have many different villagers participating in the exams; we had to level the intensity and levels of danger to an acceptable level to fit the other villager's liking." Kakashi stated. The three look at him questionably as he waved his hands, blowing off his previous statement.

"However, I don't think you three need to worry about that. I expect to see you three wearing the chuunin vest by the end of these exams! You all have the talent, the power, the strength and intelligence to make it to the end in one piece." Kakashi said as he looked at the sky before looking back at them with an eye smile.

"I hope." All three Genin face vaulted before glaring at Kakashi who was scratching the side of his cheek nervously with his index finger. He chuckled a little before Naruto growled at the older man.

"What the hell you mean 'hope' sensei? Are you telling us you don't believe we can come out of this exam alive?" Naruto accused as he narrowed his eyes at the silver haired Jounin. Kakashi held up his hands and backed away slightly.

"Maa, Maa Naruto, I believe you can make it. It's just there's quite a lot of decent competition! I wouldn't be surprised if these exams will be in the history books one day!" Kakashi said with an eye smile. Kakashi internally scoffed at that.

"_Of course, four Jinchuriki actually participating in this exam and one of them is Naruto. Another is a Jounin sensei, which makes five… five out of the nine Bijuu all in one village, that thought makes me shake! Sandaime-sama must be going insane if he's letting that many Jinchuriki into the village all at once. But I'm sure it's nothing we can't handle. Naruto could probably take on two at most with Kyuubi on his side. Sandaime and the rest of the Jounin and Chuunin squads could probably take on the other two. Still, it makes me feel like there's something else at work here…"_ Kakashi mused to himself in his head before smiling at the three Genin in front of him.

"Well, you have one week to prepare, I suggest we think of some team exercises to work on between the time we have and the exams… don't you think?" Kakashi suggested. The three Genin turned towards each other and nodded.

"Excellent! Let's get started." Kakashi said holding up two bells with an eye smile and a bit of a giggle. The three soon to be chuunin's groaned and followed their dear silver haired sensei to team sevens training ground.

* * *

The week passed easily as Team Seven's teamwork was next to flawless. You could actually say without hesitation that this team was the next group of Sannin in the making, Naruto's speed and cunning tactics, Sasuke's jutsu and precision, and lastly Sakura's insane Tsunade-like strength to go with it. Although it was nowhere close to what Tsunade had, it was enough to scare the hell out of Kakashi when he engaged her in a Taijutsu battle.

She almost broke his arms when he was just blocking!

The team had been getting along just fine since the five month period had passed. Naruto and Sakura found it was a lot easier to work along Sasuke, but they could still tell that Sasuke despised being in the same team as them, but was happy that they weren't weak and wouldn't hinder his progression which was all that mattered to him.

He also stopped calling Naruto 'Dobe' which was kind of nice of him but that still didn't make it any better by the way Sasuke spoke to both Naruto and Sakura like they were intruding on something important. His tone was violent and uncaring, almost like he didn't want them there. It was the truth, he didn't but he would rather have them there than anyone else.

It was just as well because the day had come, the day of the chuunin exams. They were walking confidently towards the designated place that was holding the first stage of the exams, which just so happened to be the upper floors of the academy. It was strange walking back into the building where they came out as shinobi's. Now they were heading back in to advance to the next stage of becoming a higher ranked shinobi.

Walking through the halls, all the younger academy students were in the lower levels of the building. The third floor had been preserved for the exams and the young-lings weren't allowed to even watch or attend something as dangerous as the chuunin exams until the final round, which were one on one battles. And those were like gladiator matches where two shinobi would fight it out in the arena while other people watched.

Walking up the stairs, team seven passed a whole bunch of teams that were all heading the same way. Some of the other Genin looked quite old, some even twenty and older! It was creepy and also nerve wracking that people as old as that could even still be Genin! Did that mean the exams were really that hard?

Making it only to the second floor, team seven came to a sort of traffic jam as a number of teams, mixed ages, were all stuck at a door with two young chuunin guarding the door. On top of the door, it said '301', signifying a classroom. Obviously intended to be the class room the exam was being held in. However, none of the teams seemed to be passing on through the door, credit to the two chuunins standing in front of them.

"Beat it! You're all weaklings! You toddlers shouldn't be even trying to attempt these exams; people die in them you know." One of the chuunin said. All the teams present protested except a select few. With some effort, team seven managed to push their way forwards to the front.

Team seven then looked at the sign once more and frown at the classroom number.

"_We only went up one flight of stairs… It's obviously a Genjutsu."_ Each one thought in unison. Naruto walked up to one of the chuunins and scowled at him causing the chuunin to scowl back.

"What are you staring at you little brat? Didn't you just hear what I said? People die here; you little kiddies don't belong here. Come back in a few years when you're ready." He said turning away. Naruto walked forward and jerked and gave a light punch to the man's shoulder. Said man turned to Naruto and growled.

"I told you to back off." He scowled. Naruto narrowed his eyes dangerously.

"Then drop the stupid Genjutsu, you not fooling us. We only went up one flight of stairs and you're telling me this is the third floor? Get lost, I, and my team aren't falling for such a lame Genjutsu." Naruto said as Sakura and Sasuke approached from both sides and stood at each side of the blonde.

The two chuunin standing at the door eyed the team closely before smiling and opening the door slightly and allowing only them to walk through.

"Hah, so you saw through it? Sorry to give you the trouble. We're just here to weed out the fools." The chuunin said honestly. Team seven nodded in understanding before walking through. There was a loud outrage of protest as the team went through. However, before they could actually pass through, a blur of green shot in front of team seven and stood there with his arms crossed.

As the newcomer looked up, every single person in team seven's hair stood on the back of their necks as they looked at the boy's face.

"_Oh kami-sama, are…"_ Sasuke thought as his eyebrows furrowed at the sight before his eyes.

"_Are those things…"_ Naruto thought continuing Sasuke's thoughts.

"_ALIVE?!"_ Sakura finished as they all looked at the boy's eyebrows.

"**_Oh dear great sage of six paths… I think I'm going to be sick!"_** Kurama said inside of Naruto's mind as the blonde nodded violently and covered his mouth mentally to stop himself from throwing up.

Standing in front of them, as none other than the famed Rock Lee of Konoha, the second beautiful green beast taught by the one and only Maito Gai! The number on Taijutsu specialist in Konoha and master and preacher of the everlasting flames of eternal youth! Naruto had only ever heard rumors but this mini-Gai was living proof that the very man existed.

"Sakura-san! My everlasting love for you will burn brightly in the flames of youth! Please, go out with me! I will protect you forever!" Lee declared. He was met with complete silence as everyone in the room sweat dropped at the action the green spandex wearing ninja just confessed.

"What?" She said.

"_What?" _Naruto thought.

**_"What."_** The fox deadpanned.

Sakura tensed for a moment before realizing what the boy had just said to her. Her lips quivered slightly as she stared at the green clad wearing ninja like he had just come from another planet! Hell, that haircut, those eyes and by kami-sama those eyebrows, he could be classified as an alien and not even know it!

She swallowed hard before answering.

"Ah, sorry but I'm kind of… eh, I'm not looking for a relationship at the moment, m-maybe another time?" Sakura said with sheepish grin. Inner Sakura had her fingers crossed and praying that the boy would by the lame excuse. Naruto looked at her with eyebrows raised.

"_Whoa, she's trying to weasel her way out of this without hurting his feelings! She's learning!"_ Naruto gaped comically.

Lee's eyes widened as he nodded in understanding. He bowed before Sakura before looking her directly in the eyes. The intensity of his eyes made her uncomfortable as she started to sweat visibly, it was almost like she was looking at a doll that a girl kept nice and groomed. It was almost… creepy the way he looked.

"I understand Sakura-san! Your flames of youth push you to become greater kunoichi for Konoha! I am truly happy to be in love someone as passionate and youthful as yourself! I will one day win your love!" He declared. Everyone sweat dropped and Lee turned to Sasuke.

"Sasuke-kun! I challenge you to a friendly spar! I would like to prove that failures always have a chance to surpass geniuses such as yourself!" Lee asked as he raised his fist in the air. Sasuke had a comical question mark on top of his head before shrugging at the challenge.

"Sure, why not. I need to stretch anyway." He said as he walked through the door with Lee in tow. Naruto and Sakura looked at each other and smiled. Sasuke had definitely improved his attitude, but he was also very powerful as well. He was extremely fast and knew a couple of Kakashi's signature moves. His Sharingan even had matured a little bit, but not fully.

Lee and team seven passed into a more open area that was fit for a spar. The two Genin's stood opposite each other, staring at one another in a stare down. A battle of the minds taking place before the physical action was to start. As a shinobi, you do not fight fair; you use anything you can to win. Mind games, strength… anything at your disposal.

This was the first stage to a battle.

Naruto and Sakura were joined by two other Genins, obviously apart of Lee's team. The first one was female; she had two hair buns and wore a light red vest and navy blue shinobi track pants. She also wore blue shinobi sandals and had a number of summon scrolls on her.

Another was a Hyūga, he had long hair had completely pale eyes. He wore a light brown vest along with black shorts and blue shinobi sandals. He also had a leg bandage on his right leg, and the aura he gave off made Naruto nervous. Even without nine tailed chakra mode on, he could feel the hate and disapproval rolling off this boy in waves.

Without warning, the fight commenced.

Lee and Sasuke shot forward, the latter with Sharingan blazing. The two collided into a fierce Taijutsu battle, neither gaining any footing what so ever on the other.

Sasuke was finding it rather hard to trace the boy's movements with his Sharingan, he could see the moves clearly enough, but his body would only be just fast enough to react and dodge, block or counter. It was another story completely for Lee.

For Lee, Sasuke's defense was almost perfect. Lee tried everything he knew to push through Sasuke's defense, but the young green beast of Konoha knew that with those eyes watching him, he knew that his current speed wasn't fast enough to push Sasuke to his limits.

The two clashed again, this time, both of them taking a punch to the face causing to two to jump back a few meters. The fight was more about speed and power than anything else. Sasuke didn't want to use any of his Katon Jutsu here because the entire arena was made of wood, and burning down the building wasn't something he wanted to have on top of his head at the moment. Plus he wanted to see just how Kakashi's training had improved him and how he matched up against other Genin.

"Sasuke-kun, you have surprised me! That is why I must do this… I have to win, forgive me… Gai-sensei!" Lee exclaimed as Sasuke's eyes narrowed. As Lee began to use his attack on Sasuke, he was interrupted by the very person he was asking to forgive him.

"Lee! I don't it!" A voice called out from the balcony. Everyone turned to the man in question. Team Seven's eyes widened and their mouths dropped. They had heard rumors of Gai's appearance, but they never knew he looked exactly like an older version of Lee. The two could be passed off for father and son by the way they actually looked.

"Gai-sensei!" Lee yelled as he turned to his trusty mentor only to be nailed in the face, sending him backwards into the ground, leaving a trail of blood in the air. Lee crashed into the ground and lay there for a second before rolling over and looking up. Gai was right in front of them.

"Gai-sensei…" Lee cried as anime tears were streaming from his eyes. Gai had the same tears streaming from his eyes anime style. Suddenly the entire room changed and everyone now found themselves on a rocky cliff face facing out over the ocean and into wards a setting sun, it would have been a beautiful sight… if the change wasn't so scary.

"What the fuck is this?" Naruto asked as he made a hand sign desperately. "KAI!" He yelled. Nothing happened. The girl from Lee's team came over to Naruto and put a sympathetic hand on his shoulder to comfort him.

"Don't worry, it'll be over soon. They always do this." She said. Naruto deadpanned and walked over to the edge of the cliff face and picked up a rock. Staring at it with emotionless eyes, he chucked it off the cliff face and listened for a splash.

The rock impacted the water, causing a splash.

"I don't even want to fucking know how this Genjutsu works. This is so _fucked_." Naruto said as he turned back to his team and walked back as the supposed Genjutsu finished as Rock Lee and Gai broke apart from their manly hug.

Naruto quickly made it back to his team in a hurry. He didn't want to spend any more time here, he had seen enough shit today and he didn't want to deal with that anymore. Youth be dammed, he didn't want to be near those two youth fanatics, he felt sorry for Lee's teammates.

"Oi, let's get the hell out of here! Another minute here and I might go insane." Naruto whispered to Sakura and Sasuke. They both audibly gulped and nodded as Team seven slowly side stepped out of sight of the strangely deranged team. Team Gai didn't even realize that they had left.

* * *

A few minutes later, team seven found themselves walking up another hallway towards another door. This time, this door was actually led to room '301'. No genjutsu, no nothing, just an ordinary door, except for the fact that their sensei was standing right in front of it reading his perverted book. He looked up and gave an eye smile.

"Well, I see you guys made it! It hasn't been that long since I took you three on in my Genin squad! But I am positive that you three can make it through these exams. Remember to look out for each other, a lot of the time people die in these exams and Jounin and assigned to identifying the bodies and disposing of them. Please, I don't want to find one of your bodies, please don't die." Kakashi said with a hearty smile.

Sakura laughed.

"Don't worry sensei! We can get through this. This should be easy for us right?" Sakura asked as she turned to her group for confirmation. She was met with blank stares, her ego dropped considerably.

"Guys… I thought these exams were going to be easy." She said. Sasuke scoffed.

"If these exams are dangerous enough for people to die in them, then they're not going to be easy. Come on Sakura, you're smarter than that." Sasuke said looking away. Sakura sighed, she was indeed smarted than this, but she was just excited to be going up the ranks in the shinobi world.

"These exams aren't going to be easy but as long as we stick together and work together as a team we should get through it. We keep a level head and we should get through this without much trouble at all. We are all strong as individuals; let's put those skills to use as a team." Naruto said. Sakura nodded while Sasuke closed his eyes, silently agreeing to Naruto's words. He had come to slightly respect the blonde.

These were no longer the academy days when Naruto was the class dobe, he was different and it took Sasuke a while but he finally saw through Naruto. Naruto had been hiding his potential from the village from the very start!

He was no stranger to see how Naruto was treated among the citizens of Konoha. If word had gotten out that the demon was learning and excelling in the shinobi arts, they would do everything they could to stunt his progression. Since they all saw him as an idiot, they saw no need to stunt his progression as they saw that he was doing that himself!

Sasuke had finally figured this out when Kakashi had told him about Naruto's life, but never the cause of why he was so hated, but the hatred of the villagers was enough for Sasuke to understand that Naruto had intentionally hidden his true potential.

He cursed his stupidity for not seeing it sooner. He was supposed to be an elite shinobi for his age… and he couldn't even figure out a good shinobi that was using the best weapon they had known to them right under his nose.

Kakashi smiled.

"Your right Naruto, as long as you all stick together you will ace these exams. I'm sure you will all do great." The silver haired Jounin said as he eye smiled. Naruto gave the thumbs up as Kakashi made a hand seal, ready to Shunshin away.

"Good luck!" He said before his disappeared in a puff of smoke.

The three Genin turned to each other and nodded. They approached the door and pushed it open, entering the exam room. When they entered they were greeted with a number of different stares from a number of different Genin. All the stares were intimidating as hell. Killing intent was thrown around like a game of catch!

Naruto narrowed his eyes before releasing some of his own killing intent amplified by Kurama, which multiplied it by about tenfold. Every Genin in the room started to break out into cold sweat, some of them even reaching for their kunai to end their own lives because it was so intense; however it stopped before there were any cases like that occurred.

Naruto's eyes scanned the room, along with Sasuke's and Sakura's. Team seven were sizing up their competition, and so far most of the competition apart from a select few, were very disappointing. Some of the older Genin had their eyes trained on Naruto.

Actually, pretty much every single Genin in the room had their eyes on Naruto, and there were hundreds of them, just gazing at Naruto and studying him like a book.

Sakura leaned into Naruto and whispered a question.

"So, which ones are they?" She asked. Naruto closed his eyes knowing exactly what she meant. She wanted to know which of the Genin were like him, basically who were the Jinchuriki he was talking about. His eyes snapped open as his eyes darted around the room, spotting the certain individuals he read the files on.

"The one with mint green hair, she's like me. The other one is blonde, Kumo Nin, she has a pony tail. Other is pretty obvious, red hair, pale, has the word 'Love' above his left eye, the one with the large gourd on his back." Naruto said. Sakura's eyes danced to each one, sizing them up before nodding.

"Okay, got it. I'll see what I can cook up." She said referring to her poisons. She was quite talented in making and producing strange poisons. She would make a great undercover assassin as well as a medical Nin. So many things you can do with poisons.

Naruto's eyes zeroed in on the one with the mint green hair. She was his age, and she was looking at him. When she saw that his attention was on her she looked away. Naruto narrowed his eyes further, it was almost like she was… afraid? Strange, just from looking at her Naruto would have guessed she was the type of girl to always have something to prove!

She looks physically fit, and rather healthy, but then again Jinchuriki had ways of making themselves look like that. Especially this girl, her social status was classified which spelled danger in Naruto's books. Something told him her life back in her village was just as bad as his before he met Kurama.

"_Life as a Jinchuriki is never easy… some of us just had more chances than others. I wonder what choices were available to her?"_ Naruto thought with a sad tone. Kurama grumbled in his head.

**_"Kushina was treated almost the same as you, Mito was different. She was the wife of the Shodai Hokage. No one would dare treat her the way they would treat Jinchuriki, but that didn't mean they liked her. Human's always fear the unknown, it's a basic instinct."_** Kurama said. Naruto mentally agreed.

People didn't exactly understand what Jinchuriki were. It was a tricky subject to explain it to people who wouldn't understand the nature of what it was. Human sacrifices to contain powerful beasts in order to eventually turn them into weapons to be waged in war. That's the basic meaning of a Jinchuriki, prison, later turned into an emotionless weapon.

It's why this world needed peace.

Just looking at the girl, Naruto saw something that he once saw when he woke up every morning when he was just a young boy. She had the same look in her eyes, masked by the same mask he had used all those years ago.

Her eyes were saddened, covered by the deceptive mask known as fake happiness. Her teammates stood around her, ignoring her and laughing, having a decent convocation while she sat there in complete misery, trying to avoid the gaze of Naruto. No doubt she would have put him in the same category of the people that were out to kill her.

"_This world needs to change."_ Naruto said with conviction. Kurama nodded, the world as it was now was corrupt, and if it remained this way, it would only get worse. Something must be done to avoid things like this. If things continued this way, who knows what kind of things would happen.

"_It almost makes what the Akatsuki are doing look like it's for a good purpose."_ Naruto mused. Kurama growled.

**_"That's not peace, what they want is possible world domination… not like they would get what they want anyway. The Jūbi is a godly entity, it cannot be controlled. Not even the old Sage could control it, only stop it."_** The large fox said. Naruto hummed in thought.

_"I wonder what they're doing it for then? It almost seems pointless to reviving something like that. Maybe there's another reason for them gathering the tailed beasts. Maybe their gathering them so that villagers don't have to hate on Jinchuriki. That seems like a good goal."_ Naruto thought. Kurama snorted and growled.

**_"Baka, they're a criminal organisation! You really think they care about how Jinchuriki are treated? Their gathering the tailed beasts for a reason, and for what reason we're not completely sure yet but I know that it can't be good for the well-being of this world."_** Kurama scolded. Naruto sighed.

Only time would tell.

The blonde Yondaime's legacy was brought out of his thoughts when he heard his name being said. He looked over to a group of Genin, mixed with Konoha and the Kumo group he had encounter in his team's training ground not too long ago. He scowled when he saw a silver haired man in the middle of the group holding a card with his name on it.

He left Sasuke and Sakura's side and walked with haste over towards the group of shinobi. As he got closer, he started to hear some of his personal information being read out. The man was about to start on abilities before Naruto actually decided to dash over.

In a split second Naruto snatched the card out of the man's hands as everyone around him gasped and stepped back a little at the sudden appearance of him. He looked around and saw most of his academy graduation class standing around. He turned to the Kumo Nins and frowned before looking at the card. No one dared to speak.

Naruto's eyes widened as he began reading over the info card. Everything about him was on this card! Every _single_ fucking detail!

"_What the fuck? Where the hell did he get this? 'Son of the Yondaime Hokage, and Uzumaki Kushina? Last known member of the Uzumaki clan and citizen of Uzushiogakure?' What, I was born in Konoha! Where the hell did this guy get this kind of info? These are S-Class secrets!"_ Naruto thought as his eyes scrolled over the card.

This thing had everything on him; it was almost like his Bingo book entry, except this was _way_ more personal!It had shit that he didn't even want getting out! What the fuck was this: His address? His favorite food? His favorite color? This shit was an invasion of his privacy!

Well, not really, everyone knew his favorite food and color but his address? That was a little too far.

The card even had his wind affinity and all known jutsu and abilities he knew. Naruto looked at the card once more and his eyes widened dangerously.

"_Has successfully combined his nature affinity with the Yondaime's signature Rasengan!? What the absolute fuck! I did that shit in secret! Nobody should know that!" _Naruto exploded internally before his eyes turned to the Genin responsible. The man had silver hair and glasses. He was rather tall, looked about maybe early twenties maybe. Naruto growled dangerously.

"Who the fuck are you and how do you have this kind of info on me! Some of this shit was kept S-class under secrecy!" Naruto said collaring the man in question. The man fumbled with his glasses readjusting them before answering Naruto.

"I just do a lot of research on my competition. This is my seventh time doing the chuunin exams you know, I just don't want to fail again. If they were S-class then they obviously weren't properly guarded like they should have been." He frowned. Naruto narrowed his eyes. Naruto would have been impressed if it wasn't such an obvious fucking lie.

"Who the hell are you anyway? You're a Konoha Nin; you shouldn't be giving information away about me to Kumo Nin. That could be seen as a traitorous act." Naruto said bringing the man closer. The man swallowed hard. Naruto could tell his whole scared act was a fake; this guy was clearly much more dangerous than he let on.

"Yakushi Kabuto Naruto-san, I'm just an average medical-nin looking to make it through this year's chuunin exams." The man said as he tried to wave Naruto off. The blonde frowned before letting go of the silver haired man. This man spelled trouble with a capital 'T'. There was something about him that just seemed completely off.

"I don't like you. Hope that we don't met in the exams, because if I do, I will be beating information out of you." Naruto said as he swiped two more cards out of the deck. Everyone looked at Naruto with question. He revealed the cards to be Sakura's and Sasuke's. Naruto then slid them into his pocket before frowning and returning to his group.

Before he could however, a certain blonde stopped him before he could go anywhere. Naruto raised his eyes at this.

"Are y-you really the son of the Yondaime Hokage?" Ino asked, closing in on Naruto's personal space. He sighed before turning away from her and looking at the rest of the group including the Kumo Nin. If anything they looked even more stunned and worried than they did before when he met them on the training ground.

"Yes." Naruto said simply turning back to her. Ino exhaled in wonder. Who knew the dead last of their graduation class was the son of the famed Yondaime Hokage? It was almost easy enough to deny it, but her father had shown her pictures of the man himself, now that she was seeing the resemblance with her own eyes, it was too hard to push aside!

"Whoa… sugoi…" She breathed. Naruto rolled his eyes and pushed passed her and back to his team. Ino's eyes followed him, but when she caught sight of Team Seven, she saw Sasuke and she was about to hop over to her beloved, but then she saw Sakura… or what looked like Sakura. Her looked had changed, and now she looked way more confident than what she had ever looked before in her life!

"…Sakura?" Ino silently gasped as her eyes widened. Sakura was no longer looked like that timid, easy to push aside girl. Even that pushy annoying bitch she knew back at the academy and was her consistent rival for Sasuke. _This_ Sakura looked sexy, seductive and incredibly dangerous. For once Ino actually didn't want to call her 'Forehead-girl' like she normally would and just decided to remain quiet.

Naruto was about to say something to his team before a loud voice sounded at the front of the room. All the Genin froze in place at the commanding tone of the invading voice. Everyone went dead silent as a large man walked in with several other high level shinobi walking behind him.

"Alright, quiet down maggots!" The man known as Ibiki shouted, silencing the entire room. He grinned as he examined the room, his cold calculating eyes rolling over and judging every single one of the Genin. He grinned sadistically.

There were a lot of Genin.

When he was first chosen to proctor these exams, he had settled for a nice written exam, but then he changed his mind; he had something _much better_ in store for the raw Genin. He had something much more stressful.

"In a few moments, I will begin the first stage of the chuunin exams! But first, let me explain what the first test is." He said. He saw all the Genin tense as they stared at him with anticipation. Most of them looked scared; Ibiki had to fight the urge to chuckle evilly. Some of these kids were so fresh he could probably scare them with a simple smile.

"This test will be issued to see how well you can interrogate a captured shinobi and extract information from him as fast as possible. But here's the catch. One of your teammates will be given to another team to interrogate. That specific captured Genin will be given a location on where that team's captured teammate is being interrogated." Ibiki said. All the Genin's shifted uncomfortably.

He continued.

"Once you have attained this information, you are to go to the place where your Genin teammate is being detained. You're Genin teammate will also have another piece of information that will be needed to pass this exam. When interrogating your captive, you may use any means necessary to get the information out of them." Ibiki said, most of the Genin's shuddered while others nodded. Ibiki's smile turned cruel and sadistic.

"However, here's the kicker…" He said. All the Genin's stiffened once again.

"Your teammate will be injected with a deadly toxin which will kill them within a certain time period. You will be given the antidote to that toxin, but you will have to find your teammate and inject them with the antidote and get the information needed to pass the test… however, if you do not reach your teammate in time… **They will die**." Ibiki said. All the Genin gaped but said nothing.

Naruto's face darkened a little, these exams were really hard-core! If this was the first test… what the hell was the second?

"This also means if you cannot get the desired information out of your captive in time, they will also die. But this does mean you can use your antidote to save your captive, but that means your sacrificing your teammate for information on the mission. If that happens, the only thing you can do is push to get the information out of your captive on how to pass the exam before his teammates arrive to retrieve him, if they ever do that is…

"All the Genin teams will be scattered around the village in secret rooms." Ibiki finished. He smiled as he saw all the panicking faces.

"You can still turn back, you can still leave if you value your lives, but that means you instantly fail. But don't worry there's always next year." He said. He looked around, most of the Genin looked shit scared. He chuckled darkly when around ten Genin teams got up and left. He smiled.

"_Weeding out the weaklings… this is almost too easy."_ He chuckled.

"These exams are dangerous. These are some types of situation's chuunins face every single day. You must be willing to push for information. You cannot be merciful with your captive as time is against you. Most of the time in the shinobi world, time is always against you, but there are many options to take, some bad, some good, however in the end… the choice is yours to make." He said as he looked around once more, seeing five more teams get up and leave the building.

"Is that all the teams that are going to leave? Good, let's get started then. I'll call out each captive from each time and who they are going to. I'd say your good-byes… you don't know if you will ever see them again." Ibiki chuckled darkly.

The next few minutes, Ibiki began calling out names. When he got to Naruto's team, they all tensed in anticipation. Ibiki looked up and looked at them with a wide grin; he looked at a certain pink haired girl which made said girl go as pale as a bed sheet.

"Konoha Team Seven… Haruno Sakura, to Suna Team One please." He said. Sakura looked around until she saw what team she was supposed to be held captive with. Her heart dropped as she went even whiter. The red headed boy gazed at her with an insane like gaze. His eyes screamed blood and that made her swallow. She almost wanted to turn around and run before a hand landed on her shoulder.

She turned and saw Naruto with a smile.

"Don't worry Sakura; we will make sure you stay alive. We'll be with you as soon as possible. I promise, no more than ten minutes will be spent with those guys." Naruto said. She swallowed, she felt a lot better but nowhere as close as she should have been. Without words she turned around and headed over towards the group before she was stopped once again by Naruto.

"I'm not saying goodbye." Naruto said. She smiled as a stray tear dropped from her eye.

"I hope not, otherwise I would beat your ass so hard…" She said as she turned and walked over towards the Suna team. Naruto huffed as he turned back to Sasuke. He was having a staring contest with the Suna Jinchuriki before he was snapped out of it by Naruto.

"Sasuke, I say by the blood-lust rolling off the guy that we would have a good ten minutes before he actually kills Sakura. We need to do everything we can, and as fast as possible to rip the information from our captive." Naruto said as Sasuke nodded.

"What do you suppose we do? I have a few ideas, what have you got?" He said. Naruto hummed before he smiled. He took out a brush and some paper and started to create some seals, Sasuke, being ever so curious at what Naruto was doing, peered over to see what Naruto was creating, and recoiled, smirking at Naruto.

"You'd make a good Uchiha." Sasuke said. Naruto grinned.

"I'll just take that as a compliment."

* * *

A while later, Naruto and Sasuke were standing in front of an older Takigakure Genin. He was rope tied to the chair in various different places to prevent escape, and he looked a little woozy by the toxin he had been injected with.

Naruto had been given the antidote which he put in his pocket for safe keeping and put a protective seal around to it to make sure it didn't break. He looked towards Sasuke who had his Sharingan active, looking the Genin up and down.

"The toxin is deadly alright, but it's spreading throughout his body quite slowly. Judging from its speed, all the captives have exactly thirty minutes before they die. It's a painless toxin, but it spreads throughout the bloodstream, once it reaches the heart, it tells it to stop, killing the person." Sasuke summarized. Naruto nodded and went over to the man and bend down before him.

"I'm going to ask you nicely to give us the information before we actually get serious. Our friend has been put with some rather dodgy people and I'd rather not leave her to her fate. Please tell us the location and you can be spared." Naruto said. His reply was spit to the face.

The blonde sighed before taking out the seals he had created before and slapping them onto the man's body and waiting a few seconds. The man laughed.

"What's that supposed to do? Make me tell the truth? You don't seem like an S-class shinobi to me, more like an S-Class baby." The guy said laughing. Naruto sighed and wrinkled his nose, and gave a small light slap the man's face. The reaction was priceless.

The man screamed… he screamed so loudly like he had been slapped by Tsunade of the Sannin, except he didn't go flying anywhere.

"What the fuck was that!? I felt like I just got slapped by an exploding volcano!" The man said starting to panic. He was met by a grinning blonde and a dark haired by with a spinning Sharingan.

"You see, the purpose of that seal is mainly a torture seal. It magnifies your nerve receptors almost fifty fold! A light touch would feel like getting pieced by a thousand kunai in the same spot. A punch, would probably feel like getting nailed by a mountain. Now, normally you would have passed out because of the pain, that's not the case here." Naruto said. The man was starting to sweat, except the sweat was painful, like drops of lava rolling down his face.

"What d-do y-you m-mean?" He quivered; it even hurt him to talk. Naruto grinned evilly.

"Embedded in that seal, is an adrenaline seal. Right now, you are being pumped full of adrenaline credit to my chakra. I can cause you so much pain you wouldn't believe, and you wouldn't pass out because that seal on your stomach is also pumping adrenaline into your system, keeping you conscious. Haven't you wondered alright why you are sweating?" Naruto asked. The man paled.

Realizing that he could experience a level of pain no man should ever be able to endure and live, a pale, sickening green shade flowed to the man's face. He looked down at the seal with widened eyes before he looked back up at Naruto and Sasuke. Both were gazing at him with looks of pity.

"P-please, have mercy…" The man said almost crying. Naruto grinned.

"Tell us the location of our friend, or get ready to experience the literal meaning of hell." Naruto said. The man's resolve hardened as he stared into the eyes of Naruto. Naruto sighed as he turned to Sasuke.

"Do it." Naruto said backing up. Sasuke stepped forward, Sharingan blazing. The Uchiha was grinning sadistically as the man started to sweat even more, he felt like he was about to die.

Dying was going to feel a lot better than what he was about to feel.

The man's screams could be heard all over Konoha.

* * *

Sakura sat in her chair in a much concealed dark room. There was a single light above her head, lighting up the area around her only slightly. The rest of the area that was not hit by the light was completely pitch black.

She groggily looked around, the toxin taking an effect on her body. The toxin had that feel on your body when you felt like you have drunken to much liquid, and it rolls around in your stomach. Only this feeling was spreading throughout her body, it was a numbing sort of feeling… or maybe that was the serum she injected herself with secretly before coming in her and having one of the proctors of the exam tie her up.

A pain numbing serum, she had a feeling she was going to need it. And she was right; a blood-thirsty killing intent flooded the room as the boy with red hair strolled into the scene with his arms crossed over his chest. Somewhere behind him in the dark was another girl with sandy brown hair. She remained scarce and kept her distance.

The boy and Sakura's eyes came into contact; she couldn't believe what she was looking at! The boy looked terrible! He looked like he hadn't slept in forever, he was pale and up close he looked like a modern day insane serial killer. The eyes of a murder…

The eyes of a blood-driven psychopath stared right back at her.

"Mother want's a sample of your blood…" The boy muttered under his breath. Sakura's breath hitched. Was she even going to be interrogated? Or was she just going to be tortured until she gave up the information? They hadn't even asked her anything yet!

The boy leaned forward until she could feel his breath on the side of her neck. It sent Goosebumps all over her body.

"Your flesh is… so… _untainted._" The boy muttered as sand began to slowly crawl out of the gourd on his back. Sakura began to shift in her bounds; she really wanted to get out! She was really starting to fear for her life. She internally prayed that Naruto and Sasuke would get to her on time; she didn't want to be left to this boy! The blood-lust was becoming unbearable.

The small grains of sand landing on her arms and started to cover them, making their way up her arms, to her shoulders and then to her neck. She tried to pull away but as the more sand was added, the tighter the sand began to squeeze.

Her eyes went bloodshot and in no time, all the sand from the gourd covered her body and began to promptly squeeze the life out of her. The pain was literally unbearable to witness, even the sandy brown haired girl, Temari had to look away slightly and the sand-mummified Sakura.

The pink haired kunoichi wanted to scream, but her throat was being crushed by the grip of the sand. Even her pain numbing serum couldn't block out this much pain, though it was helping her cope with this unseasoned torture.

Gaara leaned in, his face only mere millimeters away from her own pain filled face. He watched with mild satisfaction as the blood began to seep upwards, he could see it crawling up her jugular and into her mouth.

She couldn't even spit it out; there was no air in her lungs to do something like that. All she could do was let the blood dribble out of the corners of her mouth and down off her chin. The pain was unlike she had ever felt before, and she never wanted to feel this kind of pain again.

"Your blood is so… pure, void of loneliness and rage. Why are you so different than me?" He said as he dragged his fingers across her chin, smearing her blood over her pale skin and onto his fingertips. He examined the blood as if he were a scientist. The voice in his head screaming for more, for her death… he was only just resisting.

The sand squeezed harder as more blood flowed out of her mouth. Sakura was trying to find the breath to scream for help, but she was extremely close to passing out, the lack of oxygen as one of the main factors. Gaara stared at her hatefully.

"You are so different! WHY! What is it that drives you? Why do you live? Can you… feel my pain?" Gaara questioned as he stared into her eyes. She was staring back but her eyes weren't exactly focused on him, her ears picked up the words and she really wanted to answer him… but no air made its way into her lungs… it was met with only more crimson blood.

"Gaara! Enough, we need to get answers out of her! Not kill her!" Temari spoke up hesitantly. She really didn't want to get on the wrong side of her brother, but they really needed to find Kankurō, and time was running out. If she allowed her brother to play with this girl, they would only be wasting him and he would kill her in the end anyway.

Thankfully, Gaara commanded his sand to loosen significantly, allowing Sakura to cough up the rest of her blood and finally pull air into her lungs. Her eyes were wide; the ground beneath her had spots and tiny puddles of blood lying there. The disgusting metallic taste of her own blood lingered in her mouth, giving her both a sour and pained look on her face.

Temari came up to her and bend over to eye level with the pink haired captive. Temari brought her hand to Sakura's chin and brought her back to eye level as both kunoichi stared at each other.

"Please, tell us where our teammate is, or Gaara here will have his way with you. Regardless, I seriously think your chances of living were slim when you were sent to us for this exam, but if you cooperate, I can try and keep you alive. I can't promise anything, but I will try." Temari said as she carefully eyed Gaara who was waiting patiently for his sister to finish talking.

"I'm… sorry, but… I can't… tell you…" Sakura breathed out. Temari sighed before taking out a kunai and slashing multiple times across Sakura's arms, face and legs. The pain was less than what it was before, but she could tell that Temari didn't want to have to resort to using the big weapons.

The idea to resist was that if she didn't give up the information, they would be forced to use the antidote on her and then she would interrogate again about how to pass the exam. Saving your teammate was… believe it or not… an optional choice.

Sakura looked like absolute shit. It had only been five minutes and she already felt like she would feel better off just dying on the spot. Just from sitting there, she could feel a number of her ribs were cracked, her lungs were punctured and most of her organs had sustained some serious damage. How she was still conscious was a mystery to her.

After three more minutes, Temari and Gaara were both covered in slashes of Sakura's blood. Streams of crimson liquid were seeping out of her mouth and her sparky green eyes looked dull. It was obvious that she was hanging onto life by a thread.

"Tell us, or you die right now." Temari said sorrowfully. Gaara's sand was circling Sakura like a hungry animal. The sand just seemed to what to eat her alive and consume her living body, it was like it wanted to drink her blood like it was a rich expensive wine.

Finally Sakura had enough, she couldn't take it anymore. Her pain serum was beginning to wear off and she was starting to feel the full course of the damage done to her. It was almost enough to make her throw up, but that would possibly kill her with the amount of blood she had lost.

"R…red light… district, apartment… complex seven, basement…" She said before she passed out. She had given up, unable to cope with the agonizing pain any longer, and it had only been eight minutes… not even long enough for Naruto or Sasuke to arrive.

With no more hope, she fell asleep, unsure if she would ever wake up again.

* * *

Naruto and Sasuke shot out from their designated building within Konoha around four minutes later. It hadn't taken long for the man to completely crack, they had almost killed him actually. His heart nearly gave out from the pain, but luckily the adrenaline proved to be the lifesaving aspect to the seal.

As they shot towards the Hokage tower, they thought about what the man had said about where the location of Sakura would be. In was in some kind of riddle, but easily enough figured out. Riddles were like the common shinobi mind games. Riddles were always fun to play with, now they meant life and death.

"_At the feet of the wooden leader is where you will find your comrade."_ The man had said. It was almost too easy. They Genin knew that all the interrogations were being held in some sort of building. And there were too many buildings to check within thirty minutes. However the riddle proved to be the key to her location.

Every building in Konoha was made of wood. The leader of the village was Hokage, so the wooden leader would basically mean the Hokage tower. And the feet of the wooden leader would practically mean the basement of the Hokage tower. They just hopped they were right because right now they were running out of time.

As they jumped over roof tops, they landed in front of the Hokage tower and shot inside, only to come face to face with two Suna Nins, both covered in blood that was clearly not their own. One was the red headed Jinchuriki and the other one was a female, light brown sandy hair. She looked pale; she looked like she was going to be sick.

Naruto's blood ran colder than dry ice.

"_No… Sakura can't be…"_ Naruto thought as Sasuke growled. The corner of Gaara's mouth curved into a smile. Naruto caught sight of it and anger over took him. His eyes went blood red as they turned into slits. Kurama instantly saw his change in attitude and practically yelled at Naruto to calm down.

Some of Kurama's negative influence was taking over like it had a mind of its own. Gaara saw this change ad grinned even more, his own grin become more feral and blood-thirsty than ever before. It even scared Temari to a point where she back away slightly.

"Uzumaki… Naruto… your blood, will be mine… _she_ was not significant enough to prove my existence." Gaara said as he pushed past the blonde and vanished. Temari walked past Sasuke in a daze before vanishing in her own way, leaving the two leaf Genin in a shock.

Without another word, the two shot down a corridor and down some stairs, leading into the basement. They shot down the stone steps that were lit by the stray candle till they came to an open door leading into a room.

In the middle of that darkened room, in a chair with a puddle of blood dripping to the floor was Haruno Sakura. She looked like crap, her hair was stained red, and her body looked weak and shriveled up. Her eyes were shut and her clothes were stained red. Her feet were dangling in a puddle of her own blood.

Sasuke fought the urge to throw up while Naruto shot forward and administered the antidote as quickly as he possible could. He put his ear to her mouth.

She was still breathing! She was alive!

She had lost so much blood; she was going to die if they didn't do something. She needed to go to the hospital now, like right now. Naruto un-did the rope, binding her to the chair and picked her up bridal style, he bolted forward to Sasuke who was staring at the bloodied Sakura like he didn't even know her anymore.

"Sasuke, she needs a blood transfusion right now! We need to get her to the hospital otherwise she is going to die!" Naruto almost yelled. The raven haired Uchiha nodded and shook away his fear. Naruto took off and Sasuke followed on behind him.

As the burst out of the Hokage tower, Naruto took to the roofs and looked around. Sasuke landed next to him. Naruto turned to Sasuke.

"Sasuke, meet me at the hospital. I'm going to have to use my _transformation_ to get her there quicker otherwise she will die. Get there as fast as possible." Naruto said activating nine tailed chakra mode.

The lively flames shot up around Naruto's body, marking him with the familiar seals around his body. Sasuke's eyes widened as he witnessed the transformation he had seen first-hand at the Wave country. The very same transformation he had used to create a jutsu! The chakra was almost suffocating!

"_It's that power again! What is that power? What is he?"_ Sasuke thought as Naruto vanished from sight. He sighed before using Shunshin to vanish from sight. Sasuke had a lot to think about, that chakra almost felt like it was alive, it was almost like it belonged to something else… but what?

* * *

Naruto arrived at the hospital, deactivating nine tailed chakra mode and bolting inside carrying a dying Sakura. How could things have turned out so wrong in the first test? Had they trained so hard for nothing? Was this the result of their training? Sakura was dying in his arms!

He ran forward to the receptionist who looked up with a raised eyebrow, but eye's widened when she caught sight of Sakura. She immediately called staff in an emergency and in seconds, Sakura was on a bed with at least four to five doctors/surgeons around her. She was just breathing.

They immediately started to operate, using medical chakra to patch up her wounds and they stuck her on an IV with blood seeping into her bloodstream. In the next five minutes she became conscious as she turned to Naruto who was standing at the door way.

"Training… ground… forty… four." She breathed out before she lost consciousness. Naruto's eyes widened as he stared at Sakura's almost mangled form. That was the code she was given to tell her team where to go. That was where he and Sasuke needed to go to get onto the next exam, but what about Sakura?

"Is she going to be okay?" Naruto asked the doctors. One turned around and smiled.

"Yeah, she should be okay by tomorrow morning. She's mostly exhausted… though I'm surprised she wasn't killed from the sheer pain of it all. With the wounds she had, she sustained heavy organ damage; it was almost like she was… crushed. We're finding traces of pain killers in her bloodstream. She must have injected herself with some pain numbing serum before this happened. We can get her on her feet by tomorrow." The doctor said. Naruto nodded and gave Sakura one last look before he left.

Naruto ran outside to find Sasuke just arriving at the scene. He was puffed and looked at Naruto for answers. He looked back grimly before talking to the raven haired Uchiha.

"She will be okay; they said that by tomorrow she would be fine. She told me one thing before she lost consciousness. She said 'Training ground forty four'. I guess that's where the next exam is being held." Naruto said looking off into the distance. Sasuke nodded, but neither of them moved from their spot.

"That kid…" Sasuke started. Naruto's gaze darkened.

"He's completely insane." Naruto finished. Sasuke nodded in agreement. Any kid who could do that to a girl like Sakura had to have some sort of screw loose in his head. Even Sasuke had to admit, and this was coming from the guy, who had slapped her around six months ago for not agreeing with him, and he was a bit sadistic but he would never do something like that to Sakura. Naruto sighed.

"We'll get him, I swear it. No one does that to our teammate and gets away with it. There's a line and he crossed it." Naruto said. Sasuke closed his eyes and sighed.

"Our proctor did say that we could use any means necessary to get the information out of our captive. That kid obviously took it way to far, but obviously 'way to far' is within the rules. These exams are rigged so it makes sure that people die." Sasuke said. Naruto nodded.

"Yeah, I don't like it. Well, we better get moving. We have a few minutes to spar; we need to get there before the exam ends. Otherwise Sakura would have gone through all that torture for nothing." Naruto said as he turned to Sasuke. The raven haired Uchiha nodded as they both made a hand seal and vanished with a pop of smoke.

* * *

The two remaining members of team seven arrived at the training ground that Sakura had managed to breathe out before falling into unconsciousness. The area was more like an entrance to a jungle like place, and a large metal fence with warning signs had been placed around the training ground with keep out warnings and death notifications.

To Naruto, this place seemed quite familiar, it took him awhile to recount the events but he remembered why he seemed to know this place. He remembered on the night of his eighth birthday he was chased into here and almost got himself killed. If this is where the second exam was taking place, the he and his team needed a serious game plan.

This place was fucking dangerous. Even the lazy ass fox that resided in Naruto's guy said that he got a bad vibe from that place. It's like the animals and wildlife in that forest is beyond what you would call 'natural'. Like Kurama could say anything really, he was a giant chakra monster with nine tails! If anything he's the definition of unnatural!

When Naruto and Sasuke arrived, they found that they were about the seventh team to arrive out of about the forty to fifty odd teams at actually were participating in these exams. Another than the fact that there were about seven other teams; they were the only team here with two people. A lot of the other teams looked at them with passive gazes.

Naruto and Sasuke found themselves face to face with a similar person that they had seen before the exams started, however he looked a lot different than he did before. He no longer than that _youthful_ feeling about him, but instead he looked disappointed and angry.

"You two… left Sakura-san behind? Is-Is she dead?" Lee said. Naruto growled.

"NO! She's not dead! She was almost killed by a couple of Suna Nins! I had to take her to the hospital to make sure she even had a chance of living! She had the life squeezed out of her and even in doctors care she has a minimal chance of helping her. They say that she'll be up and out tomorrow, but I highly doubt that she will be able to recover from sometime like that." Naruto said with a growl.

Lee look down at the ground and at the same time, Naruto clenched his fists as he remembered exactly what Gaara had said when he passed him as they were coming out of the Hokage tower.

"_-I will prove my existence."_ He had said. Naruto was conflicted by a number of different emotions: Hate, anger, sorrow, pity and even guilt. Gaara was a Jinchuriki like him, but something about that kid just seemed incredibly off. It's like he wasn't human, like his emotions were being blocked.

Since Naruto's bond with Kurama, even without nine tailed chakra mode active, Naruto can sub-consciously feel people's emotions. Not to the point where he can pin-point what kind of emotion, but enough to realize what kind of aura they gave off. Every person gave off a sort of emotional feeling… but with Gaara?

It was like looking at a blank page, with a silent fire burning behind it.

What was he supposed to do with Gaara? He had given them a warning before the exam and told them specifically if they tried anything suspicious that he would not hesitate to hold back, but now he was just realizing that maybe he wasn't the only Jinchuriki to suffer that fate of loneliness in childhood. Maybe he wasn't the only one to experience what it is like to be feared and hated for something you had no control over.

What was he supposed to feel for Gaara right now? Anger for what he did to Sakura? Or pity for not knowing what it was like to feel love? If that's the case then… what does that tattoo on his forehead mean? Was he so desperate to know what love was that he needed some form of comfort?

Naruto had no idea, and that's what pissed him off. He wasn't sure he was angry at Gaara, or angry because of the fate Jinchuriki had to share, and ultimately what it made them when they progressed through life.

All that was certain now is that these exams just got a whole lot difficult.

**_"Try not to dwell on it too much, just go with your instincts. Live by your motto and your nindo. As well as forgive and forget. I can tell by that boy's personality that he has been semi-corrupted by Shukaku insane ramblings. That probably explains a lot actually. How would you feel if you grew up alone and hated, and then hearing a voice in your head telling you to kill and slaughter? It's probably the only thing he knows how to do."_** Kurama said. Naruto scoffed.

"_I could have used that advice a while ago. Luckily you spoke out now when you did, I was almost about to formulate a plan to kill that teme. If you say that he's insane because of his Bijuu, I need to fix that." _Naruto said. Kurama raised an eyebrow at this.

**_"Why should you help him? Isn't it a problem that he has to deal with all on his own? You can't help everyone Naruto, that's idealism."_** Kurama tested to see whether or not Naruto's resolve was still stronger than before. Naruto grinned in response.

"_I can't leave a fellow Jinchuriki out in the wind all by himself to deal with something like that. If Shukaku has been misleading him, then it's time to show Shukaku just how wrong he has been, next time we see him… I'll beat the crap out of Gaara, and you can beat the crap out of Shukaku. How does that sound?"_ Naruto said with a clenched fist. Kurama chuckled madly.

**_"I'm starting to like you more and more as the day's go by. I should have teamed up with my previous cages; I keep forgetting just how fun humans can be."_** Kurama said. Naruto snorted again and cut the mental link.

Naruto sighed as he saw a few other teams arriving. They were still the only team with two members; Naruto really prayed that the next exam wouldn't start till tomorrow. He looked for the proctor of the exam only to find that strange lady who walked around eating dango all the time sitting in a chair in front of the steel fence eating… well, dango.

She gave a slight belch as she stood up. Most of the Genin around her looked at her weirdly but were silenced by her piercing snake-like gaze. She licked her lips as she looked at all the Genin in front of her like they were her lunch for the day.

"Look at all these freshly little Genin… you all look so tasty. Anyway, the names…: Mitarashi Anko! The one and only, sexy and single, snake mistress of Konoha… ME!" She proclaimed as most of the Genin sweat dropped at her performance. She snarled at the looks she was getting and huffed.

"Whatever, you kids are so lame! Anyway, welcome to the next part of the exam! I'm sure you all enjoyed the first part of the exam?" She said with a mockingly happy smile. Most of the Genin grunted while others spat on the ground. Anko chuckled slightly.

"Ah, I see… well whatever. I don't care anyway, before we begin, I would like to tell you this. The next exam takes place here, in the forest of death, and let me just tell you right now that most of you, if not all of you will probably die here." She said nonchalantly. Most of the Genin that survived the first exam paled significantly while Naruto and Sasuke growled.

Oh dandy, more life and death situations, _fucking_ awesome.

"Basically, what will happen is each team will either receive a heaven or earth scroll, but in order to pass you must need both of them." Anko said again, causing teams to look at each other. She chuckled and grinned at the same time.

"_These little rascals catch on pretty quick."_ She mused as she continued with her explanation of her rules.

"That's right you little shit stains! In order to pass this test, you're going to have to find and either tactically or forcefully take a scroll from another team. This means you can incapacitate or kill your opponents." She said holding up a sheet making the all the Genin raise their eyebrows at it. She chuckled a little.

"This is just a safety regulation. Basically it says if you die here, Konoha is not to be held responsible. Obviously you little idiots didn't see something like this on the permission slip when you first entered the exams since the first test had possible situations where people die! Now you have to sign this one!" She proclaimed. Naruto closed his eyes.

"_First they gave one teammate to another team to interrogate now their pinning us against each other in combat scenario. All of these tests are how to gather information, find and retrieve captives, or battle an enemy shinobi… it's almost like were training for war."_ Naruto mused to himself. Meanwhile Sasuke was having the same thoughts.

"Since the first exam was so dangerous… I have been given the order to postpone the second exam till tomorrow! Get your wounded treated, and get ready for hell, because when you meet me here tomorrow at six a.m. You will be spending the next five days in that forest, and your main objective is to reach the tower in the middle with both scrolls. If you don't get there in the allotted time, or you just simply die, or have not got both scrolls, YOU FAIL." She laughed.

"Six a.m. tomorrow, be there or fail. Your choice, if you don't want to do it, don't bother showing up!" She said before dropping a stack of papers onto a table behind her and vanishing in a swirl of leaves.

Naruto walked over and picked up three papers, the other two being for Sasuke and Sakura. He briefly crossed paths with Gaara, and for a split second, he was able to see just what was troubling the boy. A brief touch of Gaara's skin projected a painful image of the Sand Bijuu laughing like an insane mad man; however Kurama promptly kicked him out.

Naruto watched as the red headed Jinchuriki walked off casually back to his team. Naruto gazed at the boy wide eyed. The insane ramblings he had heard from the Ichibi, even if it was only for a moment freaked the blonde out to the point where it was almost unbearable. There was only one question that was floating in his mind.

"_How does he cope with something as crazy as that thing sitting inside of his head?"_ Naruto breathed. Kurama grumbled but didn't answer. He didn't remember what point in time that Shukaku became as blood-thirsty and insane as he was, but he definitely wasn't like that to begin with. Perhaps he was self-conscious because he knew he was the weakest of the Bijuu.

"**_If Shukaku is so easily able to corrupt the sand boy, then obviously his seal is of extremely poor workmanship. The only reason I'm able to talk to you is because we've opened a link… most Jinchuriki don't have that ability, but then again. Most Jinchuriki don't get along with their Bijuu."_** Kurama said. Naruto sighed as he continued to gaze at the leaving form of Gaara.

"_Obviously Gaara and Shukaku aren't on good terms." _Naruto observed, Kurama snorted.

**_"I doubt they ever will be, unless somehow someone finds a way to beat the insanity out of that Tanuki, I don't see the sand boy and Shukaku ever getting along, and with the way that seal is made, I doubt the kid gets any sleep with Shukaku constantly barging on that seal of his."_** Kurama observed. Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"_Wow. You got all that from one touch?"_ Naruto said. Kurama just sighed and laid his large head on his paws, the large nine furry red tails swishing lazily behind him.

**_"That moment I was able to slightly compare our seal to his, his pales in comparison to the work of your father. The seal maker that did the sand boy's was incredibly lousy and slack."_** Kurama said with a bored tone, Naruto puffed as he looked at Gaara one more time. The red head Jinchuriki had reached his group and was now staring back at him. The blonde felt a shiver go up his spine.

"_Man those eyes, they really creep me out."_ He thought. He got no feedback from his inner tenant, so he decided to leave the fox alone, besides the big fur ball needed his sleep anyway, he needed to give the papers to Sasuke and Sakura.

With that, Naruto walked over to Sasuke and handed him the piece of paper.

"Here, let's go give this one to Sakura." He said as Sasuke examined the paper before closing his eyes with a nod. In one motion, they both used Shunshin and vanished with a swirl of leaves, heading straight back to the hospital where their teammate lay.

* * *

When they arrived, they found Sakura sitting up in her bed with a doctor using medical jutsu on her stomach, no doubt healing the fractures and broken ribs. She was holding a cup of tea and watching the sun seat from her hospital room window. She smiled when Naruto and Sasuke walked in.

"You two certainly took your time getting to me." She said with a scowl. Naruto paled and lowered his head, while Sasuke just looked away in shame, before they heard Sakura chuckle lightly.

"Oh, don't worry about it! I'm fine now, since the doctors know I'm a part of the chuunin exams, they have put me in the E.R. and they have had doctors healing me, readying me for tomorrow's exam." She said as she sipped her tea and smiled at the sweat relief to have warm liquid trickling down her throat that was not her own blood.

Naruto sighed happily as he walked over and handed Sakura the slip for the second exam. She took it and read it over before frowning. She hesitantly signed her name on it and finished her tea.

"I really don't like all these exams that involve the possibility of death! Not all shinobi missions are bound to have death in them, it's like their trying to throw us in the worst possible situation!" She said sitting up further only to wince and sink back down in path. Sasuke decided to put in his two cents as well.

"I think the ideas of these exams are to throw us in the deep end and see how we cope. I mean think about it, Genin's only do D and on the rare occasion, C-ranked missions. The last exams spelled a possible B or A-rank mission, and as chuunin material, they had to make sure we could deal with it by throwing us a mission like that. Those who couldn't handle it… obviously drowned, so to say." He said.

Naruto had to hand it to the Uchiha, when he wasn't being a complete stuck up, arrogant bastard who wanted to learn all the techniques in the world to kill his brother… he was actually a decent shinobi and a good observer.

"This next exam is going to be difficult. We will need to find a team with the scroll that parallels with ours. Since pretty much every Genin knows I'm an S-rank shinobi that's wanted in Iwagakure, they will probably try to steer clear from us. It's just going to make our job harder to get the scrolls." Naruto said. Sasuke scoffed.

"The one time when you're actually recognized as a skilled shinobi couldn't have been worse could it Naruto-baka." Sasuke smirked, while Naruto just chuckled and scratched the back of his head while rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, I kind of agree with that. I do admit it's going to be annoying, but I guess we will get through this in the end. After all, we are team seven!" Naruto said with an Uzumaki grin. Sakura lightened up when she saw the smile, just something about it always lifted his spirits. Sasuke just smirked as he hid is smile under his collar.

"_Soon, Itachi… soon I will come for you."_ Sasuke thought. At that very moment, a certain mask wearing silver haired Jounin opened the door and walked into the room.

"Yo." He said as he raised his hand to wave with an eye smile. Sasuke gave the man a smile, there was no one Sasuke respected more in Konoha than Kakashi at this very moment, not even the Hokage. There were some things to Kakashi that Sasuke had found out during his time with the lazy Jounin, some things personal.

"Kakashi-sensei, what are you doing here?" Sakura said. Kakashi pouted as he looked at Sakura with a single puppy dog eye. She stiffened when she saw that dreadful technique, no girl could resist it, it was so innocent and cute.

"Can't the sensei of his students come and see if their doing alright? I heard what happened and I came as soon as I can." Kakashi said. His puppy dog eyes no jutsu returning to his normal looking lazy eyed gaze. Sakura puffed in annoyance.

"_And that innocent and cute look is now shattered, stupid lazy sensei!"_ Sakura thought while inner Sakura agreed with her mentally. The lazy silver haired bastard just looked like he came from a relaxing time in the Konoha hot springs! Sakura had gotten to the point where it was almost possible to smell the bullshit radiating off people when they lied; it was almost second nature to her.

"Well you're a bit late sensei! I have been here for over four hours. Most of my wounds have been treated, since it's so fast it's because I have had doctors coming in and out of the room for the past four hours to treat me. I'm also treating myself, but I've been told not to." Sakura said as she looked at the doctor next to her who smiled back in return.

"Ah." He said simply. Sakura looked away while Naruto just sighed. Sasuke remained quiet. Kakashi looked at his team before narrowing his eyes on Sakura.

"Who exactly did that to you? I know for a fact that what happened to you was unnecessary and the person who did it will not be punished, but regardless I would like to know." Kakashi asked, however it wasn't Sakura to answer the question, it was Naruto.

"She was placed in the only Suna team that we have participating in the chuunin exams. She was placed in the team with Suna's Jinchuriki." Naruto explained. Kakashi's eyes widened before narrowing dangerous.

"_So it probably wasn't a personal attack. Jinchuriki are known to be quite ruthless with their assignments and enemies. It's probably just a reflection on what their life is like and how people treat them. Since they don't know how to treat other people, they just pass on the hatred that they receive from the villagers… it's like a game of hot potato with emotions."_ Kakashi summarized before sighing.

"Well, you should rest up. I hear the proctor for the next exam is Mitarashi Anko… she's someone you don't want to get on the wrong side of, let me tell you that." Kakashi said shuddering. After the speech Anko gave earlier that day, Naruto and Sasuke got a fair gauge on her personality. She was the type of person that was into torture and bondage, crazy stuff like that.

If Kakashi had pissed her off once, then maybe he _WAS_ wearing that mask for a reason.

Countless numbers of crazy, disgusting thoughts popped into Naruto and Sasuke's mind causing them both to blush in embarrassment and push the thoughts away in the back of their heads. The very thought of Anko being into that sort of _stuff_ gave them the chills.

"What's got you two so spooked?" Kakashi said out of the blue surprising the two Genin. They both sweated nervously before shouting 'Nothing!' at the silver haired Jounin surprising him, themselves, Sakura and the doctor in the room to silence. The silence was painful until Sasuke broke it.

"Well, I'm going home to get some rest. Need my energy for tomorrow." Sasuke said making a seal and vanishing with Shunshin. Naruto gaped at his teammate leaving him alone. He sighed and turned to Sakura.

"I guess I'll turn in as well. I'll see you back at the apartment." Naruto said as he turned to leave. Sakura nodded.

"I'll be out in a few hours, I'll see you then." She said as he nodded and vanished via Shunshin. After that the doctor had kicked Kakashi out of the room, causing the silver haired Jounin to sweat drop and walk off as he took out his favorite orange book. He wondered something.

"_What were those two thinking about?"_ He wondered as he began to read. Somewhere at a dango stand, Anko sneezed as he was eating her dango. She wiped her nose and smiled.

"Someone's thinking about me… oh, well. I think it's time to go back to the I&T department. Hopefully some stupid shinobi has stumbled upon something he shouldn't have, I need to relief some stress." She said and walked off with a pack of dango.

* * *

Arriving at the training ground the next morning, Naruto and a sore Sakura stood there waiting for Sasuke to join them. The raven haired Uchiha always arrived in a Kakashi-like style now, he would drop in out of nowhere and always say 'Yo.'. They could already tell Sasuke was turning out like his sensei.

Sakura was covered in bandages that supported her cuts and bruises from any external damage she would take in this exam. She already found it was hard to channel her chakra correctly, but with the training she had been through with Naruto and training with Tsunade's methods, she was much disciplined in pain tolerance.

Naruto was more or less quiet than the other two. Since he had arrived here, there was a foul stench in the air, a stench so foul that he was wondering why the others hadn't picked up on it. He couldn't exactly pin-point what it was exactly or where it was coming from, all that he knew was that it bothered him and he didn't like it.

Handing in their papers to their crazy proctor, the team made their way to their respective entrances to the forest of death. It was quite intimidating when they reached their assigned entrances; the forest seemed to loom over them like a down child running away from a hungry monster. It was very tall and dark; some could even hear noises that didn't seem like they belonged to a particular animal.

Five days would be spent in there; it was more or less a simulation of a long A or B-rank survival mission. It would be stuff that chuunin would get sent on sometimes, and for the chuunins in training to get it right, they would have to be thrown into a similar situation as for the examiners to see how they do.

However these exams were anything but exams, they were basically kill or be killed tests! In order to survive, you would have to play dirty, get dirty and fight dirty. There would be no second chances if you screwed up in there, an enemy would take advantage of that. Screw ups mean failure, and failure meant death out in the shinobi world.

And no one wanted to die here as a result.

Team seven looked at each other and gave each other smiles. They knew they were going to pass, they were going to work as a team and steam roll every single other team they came across. Sakura and Naruto took one more look at Sasuke; he had taken such a U-turn with his attitude that it surprised them.

Training with Kakashi over that five month period in between the time before the exams had probably been the best thing Sasuke had done!

Each of them and improved individually to un-found levels, but now this was the real test; here was where they would put their skills to the ultimate test. In that forest they would either die because they weren't good enough, or pass because they were.

It was as simple as that.

"Let's do this guys, we have the skills, we have the power and the team work to do this. Now let's show all these Genin that we are not to be messed with!" Naruto exclaimed as the horns sounded for the exams to begin. For a moment, none of them moved.

Sasuke smirked.

"For once I agree with you. Let's show these kids how it's done." He said with his arms crossed over his chest. Sakura smiled and raised her fist in the air.

"Shannaro!" She shouted as team seven suddenly shot forward into the forest without another word. Team seven was off with a bang.

* * *

While inside the forest, your only friends were your teammates and the shadows that the trees provided. There were at least more than sixty Genin in this exam, and the forest wasn't _that _big. The chances of running into an enemy group of shinobi were likely, but for team seven, they were hunting.

Sticking to the shadows, and keeping their eyes peeled like hawks, they scouted for enemy groups of shinobi. They wanted to get their scroll and get to the tower as fast as possible. The five day limit was a lot of time for them. It was almost like they were expected to wait and bide their time, set up traps and what not.

Shadows were your best friend, stay close to them and you remain incognito to your surroundings. Shadows were a shinobi's best friend, you could manipulate shadows to do anything you wanted, you could assassinate, plan, attack with them, and shinobi work in the darkness to serve the light.

What happens when you put a bunch of shinobi, looking to prove something in a dark place full of shadows?

Nothing… absolute silence, but sometimes silence can be extremely deadly. And an Amegakure was about to learn this the hard way. And by the hard way, it means that they are about to be hit, and by something they would never see coming.

The team had come to a stop in a small clearing and crouched in a small circle and starting drawing plans on the ground. Little did they know that above them in the complete cover of darkness, a boy with raven black hair stood on a single branch with his eyes closed in a relaxed manner.

When they opened, they were completely red with two tomoe on each eye. Slowly, the body of the figure retreated into the darkness; the last thing to see was his red piercing eyes fading into the darkness, and a low chuckle could be hear.

The Amegakure team heard this and their heads shot up and looked around. Their fast twitch muscles acting freely, the laugh was chilling, almost nerve-racking. More laughs echoed around them. They started to sweat nervously as the laughing got closer. The lone female in the group broke down, it was a maddening laugh!

It was at this moment when the two other males realized they had been trapped in a genjutsu! Frantically making a seal with their hands, they both shouted 'Kai!' and dispelled the seal, only to see an incredibly large fire ball coming towards them.

"_Katon: G__ōkakyū__ no Jutsu!"_ The voice sounded from behind the shadows of the tree line. Before the Amegakure group could counter, they heard another voice on the other side of them. Their eyes widened at the jutsu that was being used and what destructive consequences it could have if it hit them.

"_Fūton: Kamikaze! (Wind Release: Divine Wind)"_ Another voice sounded as the giant ball of wild flame hit the group before they could counter. After the second it hit, the Fūton jutsu collided with the ball of flame, fueling the fire with oxygen, creating a larger hell-fire around the Amegakure team.

When the flame cleared, the three Amegakure Genin were lying on the ground unconscious, their clothes burning until they slowly burnt out, leaving chard skin and clothes that had turned to ash. Out of one of the burnt pockets rolled a heaven scroll. It rolled until it hit the feet of a shinobi wearing knee high combat heels.

She bent down and picked it up with a smile as she turned around and showed it too her two teammates.

"That was much easier than I thought it was going to be. Thanks for the provided support on that genjutsu Sasuke! It was a little harder to cast than I thought." Sakura said with a chuckle. Sasuke snorted and turned his head away.

Seeing this, Sakura huffed and gently put the scroll into her pouch that rested at her side. She turned to Naruto who was looking at a particular way in the forest. He was frowning, something was bothering her friend since the beginning of this exam, and it irked her that he wasn't telling her.

"Naruto… what's up with you? You are on edge… you seem troubled?" She asked. Naruto spun his head towards her and raised an eyebrow before sighing. Women's intuition was an annoying factor to deal with. Man he really was turning into Shikamaru!

"Can't you guys feel it? The blood-lust? The killing intent? It's everywhere, it's much stronger than an average Genin, I would say it's almost around Jounin level, maybe even more. I feel like there's someone in this exam that really shouldn't be here." Naruto said. Sasuke chuckled a bit.

"What? You mean us? Naruto… you know that were too good for any of these other moronic Genin. Come on, were wasting time let's just get to the stupid tower." Sasuke said beginning to walk off before he was stopped by Naruto.

"Baka! Stop for a second, both of you! Actually try to feel it… it like it's following us. It has been for the entire exam! It's like its… hunting us." Naruto breathed. Sasuke narrowed his eyes but followed the advice, along with Sakura. They both closed their eyes and extended their senses. It was at that moment they felt it, the blood curling chill of the chakra that was approaching them at speeds that wasn't meant for Genin.

"You feel it now? I give it about two minutes before it actually gets here. We need to get moving, right now!" Naruto said as he took off towards the middle of the forest. Sakura and Sasuke stared at each other for a moment before taking after the Yondaime's legacy.

The trio leaped through trees, bolting for the center of the forest. Naruto kept his senses stretching, they weren't out running this thing, it was very close now… to close for comfort. Naruto broke out into a cold sweat. It was a disgustingly evil chakra, even for Kurama it was foul to even sense, it was cold and ruthless… but it was powerful, and right now it was catching up.

Naruto cursed. There was no out running this thing, whatever it was… it didn't even seem human. There only option was to stand and fight, but by the power this thing was giving off; he didn't want to fight something like that, not with Sakura and Sasuke around. He didn't want to hurt them.

Naruto came to a stop on a tree branch, a few seconds later; he was joined by Sasuke and Sakura who looked at him questionably. He turned around and faced the area behind him. A few seconds later, another figure landed on a tree branch only around ten meters away from them.

This figure was a male; he wore a large straw hat with a tag that hung from the side of it. It had 'evil' written three times on the tag. The man was fairly tall, quite a bit taller than Naruto and co, so he would guess that this man was somewhere in his early twenties or late teens. The figure was approximately one hundred and sixty centimeters tall, and he radiated blood-lust.

"Well… well, what do we have here? It looks like three tasty looking Genins to snack on." The man snickered as the three consciously, and instinctively reached for kunai. Something about this man seemed completely off. Naruto knew pretty much everyone knew about him being an S-rank shinobi, if that was the case then why was this man approaching him so subtlety?

The answer was simple; this man was just as skilled as Naruto, if not better.

"You are… not a Genin… who the hell are you!?" Naruto demanded. The Kusa Genin looked at the blonde and licked his lips. Naruto was getting strange vibes from this man, and Kurama was growling in his stomach seal. Obviously if Kurama got so worked up over this guy, then something was definitely not right.

"I'll give you credit Naruto-kun… you are much more intelligent than the book says. You interest me a great deal; I'll enjoy watching you grow…" The man's eyes turned to a specific Uchiha in the group which made said raven boy break out into a cold sweat. The piercing gaze of this man just gave him the creeps.

"However, I'm not here for you… I'm here for little Sasuke-kun." The man said. Naruto's eyes narrowed as Sasuke stepped back a bit, and Sakura slowly reached for a kunai. Sasuke growled a little at the man.

"What the hell do you want with me? If you want to fight me, you fight all of us, and I'm afraid that despite how good you are, you won't win." Sasuke said with a slight smirk. The arrogant smile on the man's face vanished and was replaced by a one with disgust.

"I'm aware that fighting all of you at once is foolish. With Naruto-kun's mastery of the Yondaime's techniques, your Sakura teammate is learning Tsunade-chan's techniques and you Sasuke-kun, having most, if not all of the skills of Kakashi of the Sharingan… It would be an inconvenience fighting all of you at once… however I didn't come unprepared." The man said with a slight smirk making one hand seal. Everyone in team seven tensed.

"Just who the hell are you!?" Sakura yelled at the man. The man smirked, but this time, the smirk turned into a full blown grin.

"That's not important… what is important, is the test I'm about to give you three, a test… to prove your worth." The man said as he continued through his hand seals. Naruto didn't even recognize any of the hand seals… they weren't for Ninjutsu… no, what the hell were they for? The man smiled.

"The first test is for you, Naruto-kun." The man chuckled softly. Naruto tensed and drew a Hiraishin kunai and held it in front of his face in a dagger like style, ready to throw it if needed. The man smirked even more as he finished the hand seals and clapped his hands.

"**_Be ready for anything Naruto… he's up to something!"_** Kurama warned, Naruto mentally nodded, he braced himself for anything, until the man said something again.

"Naruto-kun… I wonder how you will react, when you fight the very people responsible for the hatred directed towards you for all those years…" The man said. Naruto's eyes narrowed for a second, not knowing what he was talking about.

"Well, were about to see now aren't we? _Kuchiyose: Edo Tensei (Summoning: Impure world Reincarnation)"_ The man shouted as two large white coffins shot up from the tree branch. The two coffins stood silently, Naruto tensed, waiting to see what the actual purpose of this jutsu was. The man smirked when the coffin lids dropped open.

Naruto's eyes widened, to the size of dinner plates.

He dropped the kunai in his hand and froze. The kunai hit the tree branch with an audible thud. His hands started to shake and his knees now felt extremely weak. It was like all the energy in his body had been suddenly sapped!

He couldn't tear his eyes away from the scene in front of him. Why couldn't he look away? The pain was bubbling inside of him; he could hear the growls and ferocity of Kurama banging against his cage, wanting to rip the man to shreds for using a jutsu like this.

Sakura and Sasuke's breath hitched. Sakura couldn't believe what she was seeing… there was no way, why would this man know such a foul jutsu? Why would he use it? Why would he make Naruto fight _those two_ people? Those two of all the dead people in the world, it had to be _those_ two.

Sasuke didn't know what to make of this, he didn't know about the two people in the coffins, but he could definitely tell that the two people in the boxes had an effect on both Sakura and Naruto based on his teammates sudden attitude change.

The man who stood in the middle of the two coffins smirked.

"So how about it Naruto-kun… can you fight them? Can you fight the very two people who condemned you to a life of hatred and despair?" The man mocked. Naruto's features darkened, and as he raised his eyes to face the man, his vision was clouded by hatred and rage, along with tears.

His eyes had turned to red slits, and an insane amount of blood-lust filled the area, even slightly shocking the man in front of team seven.

**"You… BASTARD!"** Naruto roared. The roar was animalistic, full of pain and hurt. For a moment, both Sakura and Sasuke where slightly blown away by the red chakra that was being released around Naruto's body. The blonde had tears streaming down his face.

This man had just shattered Naruto right to the core; every bottled emotion that Naruto kept inside of him bubbled over and was released in a large pent up bomb of emotional strain and rage. There was nothing that could have made Naruto this angry, except for this man. This man quickly jumped into Naruto's 'Kill these people' books as the red chakra around Naruto's body calmed down.

The blonde breathed slightly, his shaky breaths slowly down to the point where he closed his eyes and breathed heavily. He slowly turned to Sasuke and Sakura and looked at them weakly. The pink haired kunoichi saw the pain filled gaze in Naruto's eyes, and to be honest, she couldn't blame him.

"You two… leave; get to the tower as fast as you can. I'll hold them off, just get to safety." He said in a tone of voice that Sakura or Sasuke didn't want to go against. The tone was full of authority, full of determination, full of _power._ They nodded, and without another word, turned around and headed off in the direction of the tower as fast as they possibly could.

Naruto turned back to the man, his eyes full of hatred.

"I don't know why the fuck you have come here… or how the hell you know a jutsu like that…" Naruto said as he clapped his hands together activating his nine tails Chakra Mode. He glared at the man, his orange glowing eyes piercing daggers at the man.

"But you have made an incredible mistake, because now I'm going to slaughter you." Naruto said; void of all emotion. The man had to admit, the tone he used was quite intimidating, but in his past, he had heard worse, so he just laughed it off.

"Oh… Naruto-kun, you are interesting indeed, however I do not have time to waste on you. I have a date with Sasuke-kun." The man said as he turned to the two people who were still in the coffins, they unconsciously stepped out on command. The man smirked.

"Keep _your_ boy busy." The man said. The two people that where in the coffin shot to life. Their heads spun around until their eyes lay on the man. They both scowled.

"I remember this jutsu… Senju Tobirama create this jutsu, I remember studying it." The female said as she examined her body and then looked over to the male who was also examining his own body. She gasped as she pointed at the man in front of her, but before she could utter a word. Her head was force sideways to stare at a little boy who looked god-awfully familiar to her.

"Naruto-kun is your target." The man chuckled a little. The two gasped at the name.

"Naruto…kun?" The female said as she stared at the little twelve to thirteen year old boy in front of her. She wanted to cry but for some reason, something wasn't letting her.

Naruto's gaze softened as he let fresh tears drop from his eyes. The man gasped as he looked upon the form that Naruto had, it was amazing, and the chakra he was feeling was incredible!

"Naruto… you have grown so well!" The man said with a smile. However Naruto kept the same pain filled look across his face as he stared both, the female and the male in the eyes. This was the first time ever… the first time ever meeting _them_, however he never imagined meeting them under these circumstances.

A tear dropped to the ground.

"Mom… dad…" Naruto said, his eyes tearing up. The two standing in front of them softened their stances.

Indeed.

Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina in the flesh, the victims' of the inhuman jutsu that was Edo Tensei, were standing in front of him. Everything about them was correct, every detail, there posture, their voices, their faces… everything was pin-point accurate… At least it was from what Hiruzen had told the young blonde Jinchuriki.

It shattered Naruto inside.

**_"Fight Naruto… they are dead, it may be them, but they are puppets for that man to use. He's going to use them to attack you! They aren't going to hold back, so you can't either!"_** Kurama warned, however Naruto didn't even answer. He just continued to stare at the man and his parents.

"Forgive us Naruto… we cannot seem to control our movements." Minato said as he stood stationary along with Kushina. The man broke out into a laughter that would make anyone's blood freeze. Naruto growled, the chakra cloak around him flickering more fiercely than more.

"Whoever you are, you die here today." Naruto said as he launched for the man. The man smirked and launched back to meet Naruto, with Minato and Kushina following alongside the man unwillingly but forced.

"I don't think so, today is the day you face the greatest pain of all!" Two chakra arms shot out of Naruto's back, Rasengans forming in each one, until they were met by two more Rasengans on the opposing side. Naruto's eyes widened when he came face to face with his father.

However before either could say anything, the entire area around them lit up in a flash by the colliding power and force of the Rasengans, and time slowed down as Naruto's eyes were shaking in disbelieve. Everything around them exploded, clearing the area around them.

This was going to be a battle that Naruto would never forget…

A battle where he would be forced to fight the very people that loved him more than anything in the entire world, to the death…

His own parents.

* * *

A/N: MUHAHAHA EVIL CLIFF HANGER! Bet some of you didn't see this coming!

Na but yeah, most of you are probably going ape shit because Minato is supposed to be trapped in the Shinigami's stomach. However, if you have read the manga, do you remember that time when Orochimaru free's the four Hokage's from the stomach and then uses Edo Tensei? Yeah, he used that early and got Minato out. Orochimaru before hand, used the Shinigami mask from the Uzumaki temple to free Minato to use him as a weapon against Naruto. He didn't have to do that with Kushina because she wasn't in the stomach of the Shinigami. Not sure how it works and all, but let's just roll with it, because this is an important event that will shape the story from now on.

One thing i would like to add is that JUST becuase this is a Strong/Intelligent Naruto story, doesn't mean he's going to win every fucking battle he's going to go into. Throughout this story, he's going to encounter people that will break him, shatter his confidence and sometimes absolutely destroy him emotionally. If you think i'm going to throw people like Minato and Kushina at him, just to have him beat them, then your way fucking wrong. Just because this is a Strong/Intelligent Naruto story, doesn't mean he's going to win every fight. Remember, he's only twelve! He has very acutal little battle experience and experience on how other people think!

I'm not sure if you guys like it or hate it, the fact that Naruto is fighting his resurrected parents while the Snake goes after Sasuke and Sakura.

I have about a week off from school due to some outbreak of sickness, so i'll here sitting at home and writing, when I feel like I want to write. Since this is a rather day or two earlier update, the next update will be sometime next weekend. I hope, or maybe if I just go all out and get a chapter done in like a day i can have it out earlier but i doubt it.

Thanks guys and i'll see you later!

Next chapter: Impossible Odds and Closure


	7. Impossible Odds and Closure

A/N: Heya guys, new chapter up. Now a few people seemed to have problems with the last chapter. Most of these people had a problem with the way I approached the exams entirely. There were complaints about how the first exam was too brutal and would never be accepted no matter what. Well i'd like to say that I personally didn't see the written test in the cannon all to convincing. I saw exactly what the meaning behind it was as pretty much as soon as it began. (Not bragging or anything but i thought it was pretty boring, see as how pretty much most strong Naruto fics seem to use the written test heaps) What i wanted to do was more brutal, the way i really see how the Shinobi world should be.

I mean seriously, the kids are going into a profession that requires, stealth, interrogation skills and all up, the ability to slaughter your enemy's and not give a second thought about it. It's a cold world, and i saw the written test to be too forgiving and too easy really. Others may have different views, but MY OPINION, this was my view on it.

Another set of you said that Orochimaru blew the Edo Tensei way too early. Yeah, i get that, but as i said, Orochimaru is a slick bastard. Who's too say i haven't cooked up something else? You guys think you know what's going to happen because i'm following parallel with the Cannon, that's wrong... As i stated before, things are going to be different. For example, the Invasion might happen at a completely different time! The Chuunin exams might not even be interrupted! Things are going to happen that will branch off from the cannon. So when i used Edo Tensei in the forest, you can damn well bet that Orochimaru has another trick up his sleeve!

Another set of your didn't exactly like the fact that i had Minato and Kushina fight Naruto, saying that it was too early for all that too happen. Hey, well, shit happens. if you haven't noticed, shit is going to be different in this fic. Yeah i get that Minato is supposed to be in the Shinigami's stomach and what not, but that's all part of the Mystery! :OOO

I do admit I rushed a little bit last chapter and i want to say that I'm sorry. Good work takes time, that's why i spent an entire week on this chapter.

Nothing new on the Harem, but the romance isn't too far away.

On with the Story!

* * *

A slither of sunlight stretched across the horizon as the Sandaime Hokage stared out into the sun set. It had been a long time since he stared out into the orange line of warmth, it was a very effective way of letting the all the stress on his shoulders wash away in the warm glow of the sun. It was a calm peaceful feeling that filled his old tired body and for the very rare brief moments, remind him what retirement felt like. His thoughts brought him to the exams, and why he was forced to change it to such ruff conditions.

The main reason being Kumo and Takigakure, their views on the exam were that it was too easy going. Too easy to fool a person in a written test, it was almost foolish, and they had said that the shinobi with bloodlines would find it much easier to complete an exam while others with no bloodline might have a more troublesome time, and apart from the visual bloodlines… especially those with dōjutsu like the Sharingan, or the Byakugan all of which belonged to Konoha, would easily cruise through the first part of the test with little to no trouble at all.

They complained that it would have been one sided and too easy for Konoha Genin that possessed the bloodline to pass, so they changed the test. The test they changed it to was a similar test that they had used during the second shinobi world war, a test that Konoha ran when it was only Konoha Genin participating.

However, if he used this means of testing, it was much more risky than just sticking with a simple minded written test. Any idiot could have figured out the meaning of the written test, so it was basically no challenge... that, Hiruzen was sure of, however he could be overestimating the Genin, most of them were quite simple minded these days, but this test was more than enough to determine chuunin material.

Yes it was a dangerous test, most of the shinobi council were completely against the idea of it, because of the safety of their children were at risk, however, he reminded them that out in the shinobi world, there _is_ no mercy; _there are no_ people that will nicely interrogate you. And there is certainly, under no circumstances, was there going to be a time where gathering information is going to be as easy as the written test was going to make it out to be.

However, most of the shinobi council didn't agree, especially the Hyūga. The whole issue was with Kumo was basically their fallback argument! From the very start, most of the council had been in an outrage, allowing Kumo to enter the boarders with two of their Jinchuriki no less. Some of the council were beginning to doubt Sarutobi on his ability to make decisions about the well-being of Konoha!

So he made a compromise and external interference in the exam that nobody was to know about except the exam proctors and the council. He made the list of the people that would be sent to the other teams as captives. He made sure that the captors had nothing of worth to steal. To ensure the safety of Konoha even further, there was a hidden recording seal hidden in each room that the exam took place in.

Each Genin squad was monitored, ensuring that secrets of Konoha were not divulged to disguise Genin who could very well be spies from the other village. It was good to because they had managed to capture least two teams that were torturing their captive for Konoha's blueprints and weakness of the village. Those teams had Jounin arrive on the scene and escort them to the I&T department.

In all up, the exam had a number of different deaths, not to high but certainly not too low, only just enough as just as the estimated death rate was. Most were from Konoha since they had the bulk of the exam participants were from the hidden leaf, there were only two or three teams that weren't from Konoha that had failed the test and had one of their teammates die from the toxin.

Life is tough, as a shinobi; there is nothing that is easy. Death is a partner that they have to work with every single day. It's just the way it is.

However, the test proved well and everything had gone according to the estimated pass rate. They had sent the certain teams back to their own village with their dead teammate. It was hard for them to accept, but they knew full well what they were getting into. The shinobi world had no room for naivety. If they didn't know, then it was their fault for taking the chuunin exam so lightly.

As he stared out into the sun set, he felt his tired bones advising him to take a seat and start on the cursive paperwork that awaited him at his desk. Files needed to be filled out, death confirmations needed to be signed and what not… you know, all the political crap.

He turned around to see that his secretary had left a cup of tea on his desk, the steam gently rising out of it. It was getting late, he was wondering how Naruto and his team were doing, he judged that by their skill they should make it within the day or two. He sighed as he slowly walked over to his seat to sit down. It was then that he sensed it.

A overflowing power erupted from the direction of the forest of death, he could feel the violent chakra lashing out like a wild hungry dog on chains, tempted by a piece of raw meat thrown in front of it. It was blood-thirsty; it was terrible, almost as bad as the Kyuubi's.

You see, that was the thing.

It was the Kyuubi's chakra!

His head spun towards the forest to see a flock of around a thousand birds flying away from the sudden disturbance in nature. They looked like small flies but up close they wouldn't be any larger than the average pigeon. He could almost see the red chakra floating upwards to just above the top of the tree tops for the entire village to see. Almost on cue, a large fox-like face formed, his crimson red eyes looking directly at Hiruzen.

The old man was stunned as he stared back at the distance fox-like face that was shrouded in the cloud of red chakra, the killing intent could be felt all around the village. No doubt it would be littered all over the forest as well.

What was actually seconds, felt like hours for the old Hokage, he had never thought he would see those red eyes again, those eyes filled with nothing but hatred and rage, a lust for vengeance on the village that imprisoned him. A thousand words were spoken in just a few seconds.

The red chakra suddenly vanished along with the ghost like fox head. The killing intent vanished only to be replaced by a clam forest, with trees swaying in the slight breeze. The village was completely silent. Half way across the village, the Jounin senseis were gathered at an outdoor bar.

Among-st them were Kakashi, Asuma, Kurenai and Kirābī and a couple of other Jounin sensei. It was then that they saw it, the red chakra around the same time the Hokage was seeing it as well. And in a few moments, it vanished. It was at this time, that all the Jounin feared for their student's safety, the monstrous chakra had been there for a second before it vanished completely, leaving the entire village to silence.

"Did the seal break?" Kurenai asked. The other Jounin shuddered but had no idea so they shrugged their shoulders or shook their heads in doubt. Kakashi was the only one to have a different reaction. He hadn't known Naruto long, but he had a fair idea about how much control he had over the Kyuubi.

From what he had seen, it seemed the Kyuubi had good intentions. The fox seemed to want to help him become a better shinobi; to advance through the world and bring peace, just like Minato and Jiraiya-sama had always wanted. However right now it seemed like a different story. The chakra transformation in the Wave had shown Kakashi of Naruto's relationship with the Kyuubi. The chakra felt natural.

…But this…

It was the same chakra that he felt all across the village on that very same night, the nightmarish feeling of the Kyuubi's murderous red eyes staring across the village, before deciding its fate, like a court room judge. The hammer would have come down, just like the Kyuubi's Bijudama would have, if not for Minato who had 'objected' and protected the village with his life.

Kakashi clenched his fists, making them turn white from the pressure he was applying. All the Jounin turned to him for an answer, and he gladly gave them one. He turned to the forest and let out a shaky breath.

"No, the seal hasn't broken… from what I know, Naruto is just as much as a seal master as Minato-sensei. He wouldn't let the seal brake so easily. However, I think something has upset Naruto greatly… Too let out this much of Kyuubi's chakra, something must have happened." Kakashi explained. All the Jounin looked towards the forest in anticipation, any second they would brace themselves for the Kyuubi to come bounding out of the forest, ready to decimate the village and finish the job like it would have twelve years ago.

Their thirst for sake had now vanished and was replaced by a sick feeling in their stomachs.

Back across the village standing in the Hokage tower, the old man had broken out into a cold sweat, wondering what had caused Naruto to release so much of the killing intent that he had. It was so much to literally project a visible image of the Kyuubi across the village!

Just then, an entire squad of ANBU appeared in his office. His head turned sharply towards them, staring at them out of the corner of his left eye. He motioned for them to speak. The leader stepped forwards and kneeled before the leader of the hidden leaf village.

"Hokage-sama, a situation has come up that requires your immediate attention." The ANBU spoke clearly. The Hokage grumbled, he was well aware of the Kyuubi's chakra, how could he not? Everyone saw it.

"I'm already aware that the Kyuubi's chakra has caused a small panic among-st the villagers. I want half of you to go and settle them down. The rest will follow me into the forest to see what has caused such an outburst of Naruto-kun's chakra." The Hokage said taking a few steps before he was stopped by the ANBU captain.

"With all due respect Hokage-sama, there's another important thing you need to see. Please follow me; I will lead to you to this disturbance." The ANBU captain said. The Hokage raised a worried eyebrow at this but nodded. Within seconds, the entire office was empty as every single person in there had vanished with Shunshin.

* * *

Block, dodge, and avoid, Kawarimi. Everything Naruto could think of and it still wasn't enough to avoid all the attacks, assaults and ploys his parents had thrown at him. An impeccable combo that he was not dealing well with at all, he was losing fast and if he didn't find a way to read their attacks, he would soon fall. His mother was a powerhouse, there was no blocking her punches, even with the Nine Tailed chakra mode on.

Her flexibility was destroying Naruto in hand to hand combat. He would use everything he could to avoid her strikes, he even used his chakra arms, but she took advantage of that and always use the arms to pull herself towards him and promptly smash him in the face. Every attack he used, she would counter almost flawlessly.

The area around them was trashed, littered with remains from trees, dirt and rock. He was breathing heavy. He had Hiraishin seals all over him when he and Minato came to a Taijutsu battle, but it would always end the same, Kushina would appear out of no were and knock Naruto backwards, breaking an extra two tress and scaring the land.

He didn't even have time to get up; he was hit with overly large Rasengans' left and right. He didn't have time to think, he didn't have time to plan a counter attack because there was no interval to formulate a plan. No matter, even if he ran, Minato would appear before him with Rasengans' in hand.

He couldn't even buy the time to remove the Hiraishin seals that were place on him in the first place. The battle had lasted five minutes and Naruto was almost ready to throw in the towel, and curl over and die.

But he couldn't, he couldn't give up or abandon his friends. The man had taken the advantage and slipped past his defense and gone straight after Sakura and Sasuke. He had tried to catch up but he only ended up getting himself hurt as he had ran straight into his mother's fist, only to be volley balled backwards into his father's Rasengan.

Naruto was currently lying in a crater which his own body had made when he was, for almost the twentieth time, was thrown into the ground by his parents flawless teamwork. His chakra was getting weaker by the second, and his confidence was fading. His checks were wet, mixed with tears and his own blood as he stood up once again.

A couple of meters above him, Kushina and Minato stood side by side on a branch. Both of them had sorrowful expressions on their faces as they stared at their child. The child they had given birth to, and now they were ordered to kill him.

Naruto spat out a lump of blood from his throat and looked up at his parents.

"_How the… hell, am I supposed to win this? Fuck… I feel, so weak… I can't even read their moves... their so unpredictable!"_ Naruto thought with a breath. He felt tired, absolutely exhausted, he couldn't take much more of this abuse.

"Fight sochi! You have to beat us! Otherwise we will be forced to kill you! You have to fight back! Naruto!" Kushina cried as she launched backwards into an attack. Naruto only just registered this as he blocked the punch with one of his chakra arms. He retaliated as sent his own punch back only to have it hit aside as Kushina's body weaved around his fist. His face was met with her knee.

He flew backwards, the unrivaled strength of his mother sending him to the ground. However he heard the sound of a Rasengan forming from behind him. In mid-air, Naruto's eyes opened to see Minato in a stance, a Rasengan in hand, ready to shove it into the back of his head.

"Naruto! Quick, dodge before it's too late!" He warned, however Naruto couldn't dodge, instead, a chakra arm launched from his back, a Rasengan in it as it collided with Minato's. The two balls of rotating chakra collided, sending Minato backwards. Naruto breathed for a second before landing on his back.

He propelled himself upwards and stared at Minato, only to see his body puff into smoke. Naruto's eyes widened.

"_A Shadow clone?!" _His mind raced. He looked around, he couldn't see anyone, and he couldn't even sense anyone until the last second. His head spun just in time to see red hair fly passed him. He looked around once again, red hair was in his vision, but it was only on his peripherals. His eyes widened.

"_Genjutsu!"_ He summarized and hand a hand seal. He started to call out the release before he was hit by something. He couldn't even see what it was, it was a burning feeling. He was hit with a high ranking Katon jutsu credit to Kushina.

Before he even knew what hit him, a Rasengan slammed into his stomach, sending him backwards into yet another tree. This time the tree trunk stopped him, he slammed into it causing tree bark to fly away from the impact and Naruto's mouth to open as all the oxygen from his lungs left him and for blood to spill out of his mouth.

He dropped from the small hole he made in the tree and landed on his feet, but his knees buckled beneath his weight. He couldn't keep up this fight much longer. The red hair in his peripherals had vanished and only a few meters before him, his parents stood together side by side.

"Please… sochi, you have to defeat us. I don't want to watch myself kill my own son…" Kushina sobbed. She sounded absolutely torn about what she was doing, hearing his mother have that sort of distraught tone in her voice broke him even further. However her body posture was anything but sadness, she looked like she was ready to kill, but her face was full of sadness, grief as she watched her bloodied, beaten and abused son struggle to stand up.

Minato had the same look on his face. Every second, his mind raced to figure out how to stop this, a seal or anything! He didn't want to watch him and his wife kill their only son against their own will! It was inhumane! However he could not find the answer, it was like there was a wall blocking a certain side of his conscience and another wall blocking a section of his power.

"Then tell… me how… to fucking, counter… your attacks!" Naruto breathed out spitting out some more blood. He was bleeding all over. He couldn't help the fresh tears roll into his eyes. He lacked the serious conviction to do any damage to them. His mind was in overdrive, he couldn't even think straight. His parents were before him, killing him and he didn't know what to do.

For all the intelligence he had, all the mastery he had, he just couldn't bring himself to harm what looked and felt like his parents. Despite his body being covered in Kurama's chakra, he was still cut and bleeding all over. His ribs were cracked, slowly being healed by the fox's chakra. He had multiple cuts on his lips, his eyes blurred from tears and fatigue.

**_"Come on Naruto! Think straight, otherwise we both die here! Listen I understand they were your parents, but their dead! They died a long time ago! You need to go at them with the intent to kill or Sakura and Sasuke are going to be left to that mad man! You NEED TO FIGHT!"_** Kurama yelled at the blonde.

Naruto clenched his teeth and wielded his eyes shut as tears poured from them. His heart was slowly breaking and it was agonizing to go through. He felt shattered, like he was falling down a dark hole with no walls to latch on to. He felt… empty.

"_I…can't, do it…"_ He told himself, he had lost all the ability to fight. The nine tailed chakra cloak vanished. He collapsed to his knees, like he was about to be executed. It was indeed that way. Minato and Kushina rushed to attack, and time slowed down, his emotionless eyes, staring out the ground awaiting his fate.

Kurama was barging against the cage, trying to snap Naruto out of the self-pity he was putting himself through, but the sounds reached deaf ears. Naruto had fallen into the hole of darkness. How pathetic, for as far as he came, he was going to die here, and he was going to accept it…

"_This is… it, I can't even fight back… how pathetic. All those years of training, bragging about my dream to bring peace to the world… and I can't even confront my own parents. What the hell am I? I'm a coward." _Naruto answered his own question. The jaws of death closed in as Minato was getting closer with a Rasengan in hand. Kushina had unsheathed a sword as was ready to run him through. Both had tears in their eyes.

Suddenly Naruto found himself on his knees in water; he had lost all the color in his face as he stared blankly into the water. He felt the eyes of Kurama on him; he slowly looked up to see the fox growling at him.

"Kura…ma." Naruto said, completely void of emotion. The fox growled and roared at the boy shocking Naruto into a daze. Naruto's eyes only slightly widened as the giant fox got as close to the cage's entrance as he possibly could, the blood-thirsty red eyes glaring at Naruto. The blonde was about to open his mouth before the fox roared again.

**_"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!? IS THIS THE REAL YOU? ARE YOU A COWARD? ARE YOU THE TYPE OF PERSON WHO GIVES UP AFTER THEY GET THEIR ASS KICKED? THE UZUMAKI NARUTO I KNOW WOULD NOT BE SITTING HERE ACCEPTING DEATH!"_** Kurama roared in anger. Naruto's eyes widened, but said nothing. He remained on his knees, like a child getting scolded by his mother for doing something bad.

**_"UZUMAKI NARUTO WOULD FIGHT BACK! EVEN IF THE ODDS WERE STACKED AGAINST HIM, BECAUSE HE ISN'T THE TYPE OF PERSON TO GIVE UP, TO LET DEATH WALK ALL OVER HIM LIKE A DOORMAT!"_** The fox continued. The tone seemed to spark a fire inside of the young blonde as he sat there taking in the harsh verbal lashing the fox was laying out on him.

**_"ARE YOU REALLY UZUMAKI NARUTO? BECAUSE ALL I SEE HERE IS A COWARD WHO CAN'T EVEN STAND UP TO HIS PARENTS! THE REAL UZUMAKI NARUTO WOULD NEVER WELCOME DEATH, HE WOULD NEVER LET PEOPLE WALK ALL OVER HIM, EVEN IF THEY ARE HIS PARENTS BECAUSE THAT ISN'T WHO HE IS, HE FACES EVERYTHING HEAD ON!"_** The fox roared once again. Kurama started to calm down as he leveled his eyes with Naruto.

**_"I'll ask once more… are you really Uzumaki Naruto? Because right now, you aren't showing me that you are. Are you really going to give up against them and die and leave all those people who you care about, alone? What about the Hokage? What about your dream! People care about you too! If you die here, you will be failing them! If you die, then how will you ever bring peace to this cursed world and become Hokage?"_** The fox rumbled. He never pictured himself as the motivational type, but right now both their lives were at stake, and he was no one to go down so easily, and he knew Naruto wasn't either.

Naruto's eyes widened, Kurama was right! How could he fail here? After all he had been through, was he really just going to let himself die here? Was he really going to let his parents kill their only son? If he let them kill him, they would be able to rest in peace, even in the afterlife! How could he let that happen? How could he let the only people who loved him more than anything in the world suffer so much?

"I'm _am_ Uzumaki Naruto!" Naruto said in an outburst making Kurama slightly smirk a little, but it didn't show. Naruto went and stood right in front of the cage that held the large fox in it. Kurama leaned his head down so he was eye level with Naruto.

"I will fight, I don't know how but I will!" He said with new vigor. Kurama grunted, his fox eyes narrowing at Naruto.

**_"Prove it to me."_** The fox said as he kicked Naruto out of his mindscape. Naruto looked up; time seemed to slightly speed up as his two parents were only meters away from him now. He grunted and summoned the Biju's chakra once again, his body lighting up in the familiar flame. His eyes narrowed in as time sped up completely.

He vanished just as the two attacks hit the spot where he was once kneeling. He flew into the air and formed a hand seal; he was gazing back down at his parents who slowly turned their heads to see the blonde in the air above them.

"_Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu! (Multi Shadow Clone technique)"_ Naruto yelled as close to two hundred clones formed, all with nine tailed chakra mode active. In an instant, they all had two chakra arms with two Rasengans' forming in each one. Each face of the clones littered with determination.

"Take this!" They all shouted as they all came back down in fast speeds that were accelerated by physics or gravity; however Kushina went through a pair of hand seals, at lighting fast speeds. She breathed in and let out a giant torrent of flame.

"_Katon: G__ōkakyū__ no Jutsu!"_ She exclaimed as the flame launched at all the clones, extinguishing them all leaving a large cloud of smoke. However the real Naruto wasn't among them, the two look around desperately, their bodies not obeying their commands. Minato was about to use Hiraishin to locate Naruto before two voices sounded from behind the two.

Naruto and a clone shot towards the two at impossible speeds, each with a ball in their hands that clearly _wasn't _a Rasengan. Naruto's eyes narrowed with determination as he and his clone shot forward at impossible speeds, closing the gap between him and his parents.

"_Ch__ō Mini Bijūdama! (Super Mini Tailed Beast Ball)!"_ The two said as they hurled it towards their intended targets. Minato just managed to avoid the hit by destroying the clone at impossible speeds, however Kushina wasn't so lucky. Naruto's small Bijūdama hit her dead on. Her eyes widened, with both fear and joy as the insane amount of power exploded against her.

She was flung backwards, even further than any Rasengans' could send her. Her body breaking and snapping on each collision with every natural object she hit, be it tree's or rocks, it broke her body in more ways than one. When she stopped, she was lying on the ground, motionless.

Naruto, almost tearing at what he had just done, turned his attention to his father who looked at Naruto with pain in his eyes. He forced his head sideways to see if Kushina was okay, and his heart slowed when he saw her motionless, a small steam of smoke coming from her motionless body.

Wasting no time, Naruto launched at his father, who easily countered and pushed him aside. The small blonde twisted his body as he landed on a tree and rebounded off launching at Minato once again. He was met with a Rasengan to the chest; however Naruto puffed out of existence, revealing a log. Minato's eyes widened.

"_Kawarimi!" _He thought in realization. He heard something above him as he looked up and saw Naruto coming down at him with two Rasengan's in both hands. Minato leaped out of the way at the last second, slamming a kunai into Naruto's back. It pierced the boy's back; he let out a scream…

…before he puffed out of existence, leaving behind a rather large smoke screen.

Minato didn't have time to react as four Naruto's came at him from North, south, east and west! They all had Mini Bijūdama's in their hands. Time slowed down as Minato took out four Hiraishin kunai and flung them at the ground in front of the oncoming Narutos'.

He vanished, and in a split second he reappeared in the middle, and all four clones puffed out of existence. He was left standing in the middle, there was complete silence, however the Yondaime Hokage was not prepared as two hands burst out of the ground beneath him and grabbed onto his ankles.

Minato's eyes widened, quickly flashing away to another spot, only a second later to hear, a Rasengan forming behind him. He slowly turned his head to see Naruto in motion to slam the Rasengan into his father. It was at this moment when Minato realized what had happened.

On the Minato's right ankle, lay a black marking, or more specifically, a Hiraishin seal. Minato wasn't sure to be worried or ecstatic that Naruto, his own son… a twelve year old boy, had so cunningly used his perfected technique against him so well! He slowly turned his head to see Naruto in motion.

"I got you now!" Naruto said as the Rasengan was mere inches away from his father's back. He couldn't escape now, where ever Minato flashed too, Naruto would be right behind him now that he had successfully managed to mark him with a seal.

Centimetres!

_Millimetres away from contact!_

Naruto was interrupted by a foot hitting his cheek sending him into a nearby tree. The crack of the tree and the snapping of tree bark and wood could be heard. Naruto slowly fell off the yet another hole he had made in a tree and looked at his attacker. His eyes widened when he saw red hair.

"No way… I hit you with a mini Bijūdama! You should be at least out cold, why do you look so perfectly healed!?" Naruto questioned as he started to panic. Kushina stood at the back of Minato who turned around and stood at her side. He seemed confused about it as well. The amount of power in the Bijūdama should have been enough to put her out of this fight permanently; it was a direct hit after all.

She frowned slightly.

"I'm not quite sure myself, although I seem to have regenerated quite quickly. I think it maybe the technique's doing. Naruto, I think the only way to beat us would be to seal us away." Kushina said. Naruto paled slightly. How the hell was he supposed to seal away two seal masters and not have them counter it?

**_"The only way you would be able to do something like that would be to first knock them down. Notice how long you had before Kushina managed to get back up and fight again? She was out while the technique healed her. The only time she you would be able to seal them is once you have hit them with a powerful enough technique, then you can seal them. But a seal powerful enough to seal one of them will take at least two minutes with no interruptions."_** Kurama said with a slight growl. Naruto cursed.

"_That's impossible! The Mini Bijūdama hits should be a K.O! If they only stay down for a minute… even if I managed to get them both I would only be able to get half way through sealing one before the other one gets up! I can't win!"_ Naruto said as a bead of sweat rolled off his brow.

**_"You will have to stall them! I have no doubt the entire village has sensed your extended use of my Nine Tailed chakra mode, no doubt they have sent a team to investigate the disturbance. If you are lucky, someone like the Hokage will turn up to help you. If not, your only option would be running, and even then, with Minato's Hiraishin, that's almost impossible. To run you would need to remove his seals first, but that will take at least twenty seconds, and that's not enough time and I doubt they will be willing to give it to you." _**Kurama said.

"_So basically the moment I started this fight, I had a very small chance of winning." _Naruto said. Kurama grumbled before answering.

**_"Actually as it stands now, you never had a chance at winning. Fighting them head on is suicide and you already know that. They are two Kage level shinobi and right now, your only option is to play for time or find time to remove the Hiraishin seals on your body, and run for it."_** Kurama said grimly. Naruto breathed out and in and narrowed his eyes at the two. He had wondered why they hadn't attacked yet.

"_I can't run… twenty seconds to remove the seals he's put on my body isn't nearly enough time. The Hiraishin is instantaneous teleportation. I could make thousands of clones and he would take them all out in a matter of seconds. _

_"On the other hand, playing for time is a gamble, I'm basically put on the defense, and it's almost impossible to guard against their attacks and there's a chance no one is going to turn up. Fuck I hate this, I can't believe of all people I have to fight my parents… This is pissing me off! That guy is so going to pay if I make it out of this alive!"_ Naruto cursed. Kurama growled.

**_"Clam down, otherwise we both die. Fighting these two is going to be almost impossible, but if you play your cards right, we may just live to see another day."_** Kurama said. Naruto braced himself for another attack. He seriously doubted that he was going to live past this day without some serious luck on his side.

The combination of his parents was a duo were to not be underestimated! Minato so fast, blinding even! His attacks were incredibly powerful and he was always in the right position when Kushina would push the enemy back. Kushina was basically the hard hitter, the initiator, or the brawler when she went into attack. She would push the enemy into a corner and Minato would appear and finish the opponent off.

It wasn't just the way they attacked; it was just their teamwork and coordination that was deadly. Not one single slip up or mistake was made when attacking Naruto, he couldn't even see a single flaw to take advantage of, so he was practically forced to take the blows and counter according to the hits he took.

He took a defensive stance, his parents following along with an offensive stance. He narrowed his eyes as he braced himself for the worst. The feet of his parents shifting balance from defensive to offensive, obviously they were about to attack.

"Round two then…" Naruto breathed out as he shifted into a protective stance. His parents didn't answer, instead they leaped forward straight into an attack.

The family met with a bang.

* * *

A pink blur shot through the trees, closely followed by a black and blue blur. They were racing at top speeds towards the center of the forest. It was difficult for them to run with the weight of knowing that Naruto might possibly be lying dead in a ditch right about now. The sinking feeling that he was possibly dead right now and they would be running for no reason at all!

Sakura and Sasuke however, had no choice but to run. They could feel what was chasing them before catching up to them at an incredible pace. It was almost like they were running like headless chickens, trying to escape from a cheetah. They were getting nowhere extremely fast.

Sakura's mind drifted back to Naruto, and the two people he was fighting. She had seen the pictures in his apartment, the pictures of his parents, when Kushina was pregnant with Naruto, the photo that had Kushina, Minato, Jiraiya-sama and Tsunade-sama in them.

Sakura had gotten their faces down to memory, so when she saw those two in the white coffins; she almost couldn't believe her eyes. It was almost to shocking to even continue to stare at the two Kage level shinobi. Nothing however could tear her heart away from the amount of blood-lust Naruto had released at the time.

It had almost been suffocating to the point where she wasn't sure that it was Naruto standing in front of her anymore. That foul red chakra, she could feel the hatred, the killing intent, the unrivaled fiery rage burning inside that monstrous red chakra. It had made her kind of woozy, light headed to be around.

For a split second she wondered if there was something else about Naruto that he hid from her, like something extremely dark. The emotions she felt was unlike anything she had ever encountered before… emotions given life, flying around her head like flies. It was almost too painful to bear.

It was at this moment when she was brought out of her thoughts when the same man that had confronted them before, shot past her and landed on a tree branch in front of her, causing her to stop dead in her tracks. Sasuke landed right next to her with a scowl on his face.

"What the hell do you want from us?" Sasuke growled. The man snickered to himself, almost mocking the young raven haired Uchiha. It was like playing a game of cat and mouse. This man was the cat, and they were the defenseless mice trying to escape. There was no winning against this man; his power and chakra out shone their own by miles!

"What I want is simple. I want you Sasuke-kun." The man chuckled darkly. Sasuke took a defensive stance along with Sakura. The man licked his lips as he stood in front of them on the opposite tree branch. Sakura narrowed her eyes at the man. His demeanor sounded familiar, his attitude reminded her of someone she had read in a book.

"You… who are you? Tell us!" Sakura demanded. She was tense, almost on the verge of shaking, but she had learned a lot, and that is if you lose confidence in your abilities during a battle, or right before one, you might as well call a funeral agency and book your own coffin because that's where you were going to end up.

The man laughed before narrowing his eyes on the young pink haired kunoichi.

"Me? Why… I'm a simple Genin looking for some simple competition. I'm interested in Sasuke-kun because he is the last Uchiha… well, the last _non-_powerful or innocent Uchiha that is." The man snickered. Sasuke's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"You know Itachi?! How do you know about him?" Sasuke scowled dangerously. The man snickered before answering, he licked his lips with his long _snake_-like tongue, it sent shivers up Sakura and Sasuke's spines, there was something clearly not right with this guy.

"You could say… that I was once a colleague of his. There was something I wanted from him, but I wasn't able to get it from him. He was too powerful, too cunning, even out doing something like me…" The pale man said. Sasuke's eyes widened before he slowly reached up and covered his eyes, as the man's eyes widened with insane laughter.

"I see, you are a true genius, you catch on quickly. However, you're too weak as you are now…" The man said stepping forward, making Sakura and Sasuke take an unconscious step back. If they had any hope of getting out of this alive, then they would have to work together. Even with them working together, it seemed like the odds were against them.

"Sasuke, if we're even going to stand a chance, we need to take this guy on together. Hopefully Naruto can catch up to us when he's done. However I doubt that he will be here any time soon considering who he's up against." Sakura said nervously. Sasuke nodded as he activated his Sharingan, preparing himself or an extremely hard battle, however, what he saw with his bloodline made his skin crawl.

"He's wearing some sort of disguise… oh, my god… that's not even his real body!" Sasuke gasped. Sakura suddenly felt sick all of a sudden. What did that mean? Was this man _wearing_ someone else's body as a disguise? The very idea made her want to hurl!

The man's twisted smile crawled up the side of his face. He began laughing until it broke out into a hysterical evil laughter. He calmed down after a few seconds before gazing at Sasuke.

"Kukuku, nothing can fool those eyes of yours Sasuke-kun… what other secrets of the Sharingan are there? What are its limits, I have to know… show me what kind of things, those eyes of yours can do!" The man said as he shot forward at speeds that no one could have countered.

Sasuke's eyes however, proved to be the saving aspect as he managed to throw himself out of the way, just in time for the man to land right on the spot where he had been standing. The man stood up straight, only to see Sakura hurling towards him, a fist out stretched.

He easily swerved out of the way and let the girl fly harmlessly past him. However, before she could get completely past him, he brought up his leg and nailed her right in her abdominal. The painful feelings from her previous injuries from the last exam were still taking a toll on her and added to the pain that she was now feeling.

She opened her mouth as spit and saliva flew out. She was thrown upwards towards another overhanging branch, but she managed to gather her bearings and flip upside down and land on her feet. She took off once again, shooting right back down at the man, a fist out stretched.

This time the man dodged, as her fist hit the wooden tree branch. In a matter of a second, as soon as her fist connected with the wood, the bark and the loose wood under her fist shattered and the entire tree branch was snapped off, sending it towards the ground.

The man observed her quietly when he landed on another branch. He smirked in amusement and curiosity when he saw her inhuman strength, and who exactly it reminded him of.

"_So, she's training using Tsunade-chan's methods. Very tricky, I shouldn't let her hit me. Even a brat like her could cause some decent damage if I let my guard down."_ The man thought with an evil smirk. However, before he could ponder even further, his senses went crazy as he spun just in time to intercept a round house kick from the Uchiha.

His Sharingan was blazing while looking at the pale haired man. Sasuke quickly made some hand seals and inhaled a large breath. The man's eyes widened as Sasuke let his jutsu soar, at almost point blank range.

"_Katon: Karyū Endan! (Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet)!"_ The Uchiha roared as five flame bullets shoot from his mouth, hitting the man in the face all five times. The man let go of the Uchiha's foot and stumbled back clutching his face. Sasuke smirked and made a few more hand seals before holding his right hand.

A chirping of birds sound could be heard all around the area as Sasuke then raced towards the man to deliver the final blow. He projected his hand forward intent on finishing the battle right then and there. The Uchiha's hand pierced the man's chest.

"_Chidori!( One Thousand Birds )!"_ Sasuke yelled as his hand pierced the man's chest. He smirked as there was no scream, no nothing. However that smirked faded into horror as the man suddenly melted in a brown liquid. Sasuke's eyes widened as he jumped back in realization.

"_A Doton Bunshin… but when did he-!?"_ He thought as he looked around to find the missing man. His Sharingan trying to find the source of chakra he had felt not seconds ago. He had been there, that was him that he had hit with his Katon jutsu… he knew it! He didn't make contact with the clone… did he?

He spun around when he heard a evil laughter coming from behind him. Standing only meters behind him was the man, he was smiling wickedly at the raven haired Uchiha. It just never seemed to end! This nightmare of a person, felt like he was toying with him! It pushed him to new heights in anger.

"Sasuke-kun… Sasuke-kun… I am slightly impressed. Kakashi-kun did teach you well didn't he? What potential you have, however you could have so much more! I could train you; help you reach your goal in killing Itachi! Isn't that your goal? Why are you letting yourself be held back by this cursive village?" The man asked. Sasuke narrowed his eyes.

Mind games… they weren't going to work on him. This man in front of him clearly wanted something from Sasuke and now he was baiting him with an offer to help kill Itachi, it sounded like a sweat deal, but he thought ahead in future. What if he killed Itachi with this man's help? What then? What would this man want form him after that?

"Sorry, but I don't care what you have to say. I'm already one of the best Genin in my village, if not the entire shinobi nations for my age. I don't need any help from you. I'll for fill my dream on my own, the way I see fit." Sasuke stated coldly. The man frowned and sighed. Sasuke brace himself for anything.

"I see, and then I'll just have to _convince_ you another way." The man said as he man a few hand seals. Sasuke tensed, but was thrown off balance from shock as the man's head extended from his body and shot forward at Sasuke like a snake slithering to catch its prey.

The man's mouth opened wide about to clamp its sharp jaws down on Sasuke. The raven haired Uchiha raised his arms in front of his face to block the oncoming attack. He could feel it getting closer, the oncoming face; it was like a disgusting snake, wanting to devour him. He closed his eyes and waited for it to be over…

…

…

"Shannaro!" A voice came in from behind the Uchiha. The man's face widened as he tried to retreat back to his body in time, however he wasn't so lucky. Sakura's fist implanted itself in the man's face causing the man's face to warp like a black hole. It looked incredibly painful. If your face warped like a black hole from a simple punch, then the force was create enough to shatter your skull, no questions asked. It was as simple as that.

The head was send right back to its body, and even when it reattached itself to its body, the force from Sakura's punch still hand enough force to keep the head flying backwards, and this time it caught the body as well, dragging the man off his feet and into a nearby tree.

The certain area of the tree where the man landed shattered on impact sending tree bark and wood everywhere. There was a sound of bones cracking, or maybe it was wood cracking, but either way, the two Genin of team seven cringed when they heard the sound, they weren't sure if it was the man's body or the tree he had landed on.

"Come on Sasuke; let's get out of here while we have the chance!" Sakura said as she turned and grabbed Sasuke's hand and shot off towards the center of the forest. They never did look back to see the man's body, that was stuck in the tree, melt into a brown liquid as the very same man stepped out from behind the tree that his clone had been punched into. He had a scowl on his face.

He scowled in their general direction as he sighed in his thoughts.

"_I forgot about her… what a pest. I was so close to marking Sasuke-kun as well. What a shame…"_ The man thought with a bored look. He then smirked evilly as he bit the side of his thumb and made a few hand seals before slamming his hand into the ground.

"_Kuchiyose no Jutsu! (Summoning Technique)!"_ The man said as a giant puff of smoke appeared in the forest where the man was located. He smirked as he looked down at what he had summoned. It was a giant white snake, easily the size of a few buildings. He smirked as he stared in the direction that Sakura and Sasuke had fled.

"Follow those two; I don't want them to get away." The man ordered. The Snake hissed in response.

"Understood… Orochimaru-sama." The giant snake said as it shot forward after the two members of team seven to give chase.

* * *

Arriving at the scene, the Hokage was met by three dead bodies, all of which were participants in the exam. They were easily identified as Kusa Genin, and that was what worried the Hokage the most. He sensed an underlying message that these bodies represented, some sort of message that they were supposed to represent.

He was met with one of his trusty students Jiraiya and another competent Jounin Anko at the scene of the crime. It was obvious who had done this, he had seen it before. The faces of each Genin had been removed, almost ripped off their own bodies. It was truly a horrific sight indeed. He had seen this type of inhumane work a long time ago, in the shadows of Konoha.

It was the work of his past student Orochimaru. He balled his hands making them turn white in anger.

"This… why is _he _here? Of all times to return to Konoha, he has chosen now and he's in that forest. Jiraiya-kun, are you aware of what Orochimaru might want to gain by participating in this exam?" The old man asked. The white haired Toad Sannin snorted with a shrug.

"I heard he wanted something, I've been intercepting messages about certain things the snake has been working towards. He quit the Akatsuki for various reasons, but one of them was because he was beaten by Itachi. I think he wants Sasuke for something, but for what I don't know… maybe leverage? You know, about the _so called_ massacre?" Jiraiya said poking at his teacher.

Jiraiya was well aware of the things that his teacher did as Hokage. The order on the extermination of the Uchiha clan went against everything he ever believed in. Sarutobi had brushed it off saying that it was necessary for the growth of Konoha, and that if it was under Uchiha rule, war would be waged too often and Konoha would fall.

The Uchiha were unstable and basically to sum it up, a ticking time bomb waiting to go off. They were always an unpredictable bunch and their faith in the Sharingan was misplaced and overestimated. They relied on the Sharingan to do things for them, and awakening it was achievement that acknowledged you as a true Uchiha.

So for the good of Konoha, Hiruzen made a horrible decision to annihilate the clan all together, and for some reason, Itachi, the number one prodigy of his generation had volunteered to do it. And so, Itachi went and slaughtered his entire family, his mother, his father, but there was one person he could not bring himself to kill, and that was his little brother.

Sasuke… The brother he really truly loved, as was willing to become a Missing-nin to keep him safe.

It all traced right back to the roots of Konoha, where the Senju and the Uchiha once ruled the village with an iron fist, the first Hokage, the Shodaime, Senju Hashirama and his _so called_ best friend Uchiha Madara. When Hiruzen was a student under Senju Tobirama, the Nidaime, he described the Uchiha's dōjutsu as the curse of hatred.

It was a fair judgement to make of course. If taken into account on the Uchiha's side, the Sharingan can only awaken in a life or death situation where 'said' person is feeling hatred, or resent for the person who is about to take 'said' Uchiha's life. The ability is both a curse and a gift and came with considerably powerful powers.

The powers of the Sharingan could copy any jutsu, any hand seal if seen only once! It was like an advanced version of complete photographic memory! With a dōjutsu like that, it would be easy to learn any kind of jutsu because all you had to do was witness the person casting it jutsu. However the only thing that the Sharingan cannot copy is those jutsus that require bloodlines… like Lava release, or rubber release.

That's when it hit Hiruzen, like a bomb-shell, the easy answer was staring him right in the face, if this was indeed Orochimaru's work, and he was indeed here at these exams, during this very moment, then they were all in serious trouble.

Orochimaru had once told him, when they had caught him performing illegal experiments, he had once said to Hiruzen, "I want to learn every single Jutsu there is to know…", it was so obvious now! The answer was staring the old Hokage right in the face and he didn't want to believe it.

Orochimaru was after the Sharingan!

All this came to the old man in more or less, a minute. Hell, he wasn't called the 'Professor' for nothing. If anything the man was incredibly smart, he had just wished he had figured this out sooner so he could do a better job of protecting Sasuke as well as Naruto!

With a scowl and a grunt, the old Hokage turned to Jiraiya.

"Jiraiya, we will make a trip into the forest and confront Orochimaru together." Jiraiya nodded as Hiruzen turned to Anko. "Anko, I want you and every single ANBU available to set up a perimeter around the forest of death. No one gets in, no one gets out. Am I clear?" She nodded with a swallow.

She really wanted to go pay her old sensei a visit, but it looks like the old man and the perverted hermit would get to him first. She didn't like to admit it, but if there was anyone that deserved justice, it was them, giving it to her old sensei.

She may have been his student, but the old man and Jiraiya had been his teacher and teammate. It was their responsibility to put the old snake down, and she hated that she wasn't allowed to help do it, but doing this… in a way of its own, she was helping to put her old sensei where he belonged.

"Hai Hokage-sama." She bowed and disappeared. Hiruzen turned to Jiraiya and the white haired sage turned back. They each had a grim look on their face, none of them wanted to confront Orochimaru again, but there are things that you have to do in this world that you didn't like, and one of those things was dealing with a psychotic teammate who delighted in causing pain and misery.

Without another word, they both vanished, shooting through the forests at high speeds.

* * *

The area that the young blonde Jinchuriki was currently in was turned into a full out battle field. There was no rest for him as the relentless assaults by his parents provided absolutely no rest or space in time to think up a strategy.

He was on his last legs there. He was finally starting to feel some kind of chakra exhaustion and fatigue starting to approach him. The battle had been going on for a full fifteen minutes and he found himself being pushed to the absolute limit, and what irked him about this situation was that his parents didn't seem tired in the least!

His Nine Tailed Chakra mode was fluctuating from all the chakra use. The forty percent he was allowed was still at its max but his base chakra was starting to run out. It was a dangerous gamble if he kept this up. Sure, Kurama had chakra in spades, Naruto had chakra and stamina in spades as well, but it didn't come close to a Biju's level of chakra.

If this kept up for ten more minutes, he had no doubt he would be running solely on Kurama's chakra, and the fox had once told him that if any battle came to that, that was the time to retreat, because if you had run out of your chakra, then that means if you drop the chakra cloak, then you are in danger of dying!

Ever since Kushina had said that fūinjutsu was the only way to beat them, Naruto had been going at this battle from a different angle. However, against one, if not two fūinjutsu masters, it was incredibly hard to even tag them with a simple chakra disruption seal. Every sort of seal that would handicap them, they would notice instantly and remove without the slightest hesitation.

The only time he managed to come close to sealing one of them was when he had managed to catch both Minato and Kushina off guard, and it was by pure chance. He made haste to seal Minato away because he was the most dangerous and most annoying. To protect himself while he did that, he summoned close to two hundred Kage Bunshin and tried his best to distract Kushina.

However when she got up, she made short work of the clones, and by short work, he meant like a few seconds. Kushina would get up, make a single hand seal and destroy every single clone. He was starting to think if he would actually die to the hands of his own parents.

Once again, here they were. Naruto, badly beaten, bleeding, bruised and bashed stood staring at his parents. They stood only a few meters away, unharmed, not even close to exhaustion and looking like they had just started the battle. The blonde Jinchuriki was breathing heavily.

"_How does this fucking technique work? My father is supposed to be trapped in the Shinigami's stomach for eternity! This summoning jutsu… how does it work? What's its weakness? They have unlimited chakra, they heal from any kind of wound, they even regenerate lost limbs! How the fuck can I win?!" _Naruto cursed internally. He was really starting to panic now.

**_"Naruto, you have serious organ damage, one of your lungs have been punctured. The only thing that's keeping you standing right now is my mixture of chakra in your bloodstream. It's slowly trying to repair the damage, however if you suddenly lose the chakra cloak then you probably pass out. You have to be careful!"_** Kurama warned.

Naruto grunted in response, he was seriously losing this battle and getting his ass kicked! He wasn't surprised though, his father was an SS-ranked Shinobi and he had no doubt that his mother was at S-rank level as well. His father was known as the strongest Hokage ever and right now, he was facing off against him and his mother, and something told him they weren't even fighting with all of their power!

Before he even knew it, Kushina was on him and slashed him with her sword. He quickly drew a kunai and deflected it, kicking her backwards. Next second he was being attacked by Minato from behind.

He spun one eighty degrees in less than a second and engaged the man in a Taijutsu battle. Over this fight, Naruto had learned to use his chakra arms more consistently and they proved to be quite useful. They acted as a third arm so when he and his opponent came to an arm lock, Naruto was guaranteed to come out the winner.

However, the battle was still two on one, and Naruto was heavily damaged. Whenever he would finish with one, the other would attack so suddenly and often catch the blonde off guard. When both of them attacked at the same time, using their impeccable combination to destroy his defense, the only thing he could do was retreat and even then it was almost impossible.

While Naruto and Minato were locked in a Taijutsu battle, Kushina shot forward attempting to slash the blonde in the back. She went for it, only to be intercepted by three chakra arms. Naruto had his eye on her from out of the corner of his peripheral vision.

However, Kushina, being as flexible as she was, was able to twist and bend her body through all the attempts to garb her by the chakra arms. She weaved past his guard and implanted her sword right through his left shoulder. Naruto screamed and kicked Minato away.

A chakra arm shot from his back, and since Kushina was in range and proximity which rendered her impossible to dodge, she was hit before she could even see it, and was sent flying backwards. She hit the dirt, tumbling backwards a little before she stopped. She slowly got back up and stood tall and firm, like nothing had happened.

Naruto was clutching his left shoulder with his hand, blood pouring profusely from it as the nine tailed fox's chakra rushed to the spot to heal it immediately. He felt his control over his chakra cloak slightly slip for a second as the nine tailed chakra mode fluctuated.

His breath hitched for a slight second as he felt the full effects of having a punctured lung and broken rips. It was true; Kurama's chakra was enhancing the power of his lungs and organs to a new level.

Right now his left lung would normally be unable to take in air, but with Kurama's chakra slowly healing it he was able to bring in a little bit of air, and slowly have it exhale. His right lung was damaged, but not punctured. It was already hard to breathe as it was, but now it was like he wasn't just battling his parents, but his own body to just stay up straight.

"Dammit, I'm dying…" Naruto said out-loud. He well and truly was, if he kept this up for much longer, he would definitely die, and he was dangerously getting close to the gap where if he used anymore chakra, he would be getting dangerously close to chakra exhaustion.

Naruto collapsed to his knees, he could stand up anymore, and he just couldn't. He was out; he was done; now he threw in the towel. He couldn't continue this. Just fighting them tore him up inside, he lacked the intent to kill them, and with that came consequences and those consequences lead him to the predicament he was in now.

It wasn't that he wasn't trying to defeat them, he was, it was just that he was terribly out matched and even Kurama saw it. At his age, his body was still developing and there was so much a twelve year old could do, and this was probably the limit. Unless he released the seal, but he hadn't completed the key for it yet, so using what he had now would definitely kill him.

Kushina had now shot forward, and so had Minato, the latter with a rather larger than normal Rasengan in hand, and Kushina with a sword, ready to impale. As they closed in on their only son, the two had managed to force their eyes shut. Even in Edo Tensei, they couldn't afford to live the rest of their lives in the afterlife, fully knowing that they had killed their only son.

"_I need to get out of this somehow… man this fucking sucks, dying here of all places. I certainly never saw this coming, maybe I could have been more prepared if… if I knew."_ Naruto mused. As the jaws of death got closer, Minato and Kushina were smacked away by two blurs.

Naruto looked around for his saviours and saw angles, or, well that's how they appeared in his eyes. The two looked giant, full of confidence and anger. The two new comers had just managed to save the blonde Jinchuriki's life by a few seconds. When he figured out just who they were, his smile brightened to the point where it would make Gai jealous.

"Hokage-Jiji, Ero-Sennin!" He exclaimed with a hint of relief and happiness. 'Said' Ero-Sennin turned around and made a face at Naruto.

"Hey you stupid brat! Don't call me that! I just saved your life!" Jiraiya shouted indignantly. Naruto smiled weakly before closing his eyes and passing out. His chakra cloak vanished as he face-planted in the dirt he was kneeling on. Jiraiya shot over to examine his body. He frowned when he saw what kind of injuries Naruto was carrying.

He had picked some pointers up over the years when being teamed with Tsunade, and being constantly beaten and healed by her. He had learned more about the anatomy then most men knew just by being beaten to death by his teammate and then having said teammate heal you again and tell you exactly what she did to you. The injuries Naruto donned, where borderline critical.

"Sensei, Naruto's in critical condition, he needs some serious medical attention!" Jiraiya exclaimed. Hiruzen grumbled a little as he looked at what the problem was before him. He couldn't exactly believe his eyes, but he had sensed _their_ chakra when he entered the forest, he just didn't want to believe it.

"I hate to admit it, but we have bigger problems. Naruto-kun will have to hang on for now. We need to deal with the two who did this." Hiruzen said as Jiraiya stood up and returned to his sensei's side. The white haired sage bit his thumb and made a few hand seals before slamming his hand into the ground.

"_Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"_ he exclaimed as a puff of smoke appeared in front the perverted white haired sage. As the smoke cleared, a rather disappointing small orange toad appeared. Jiraiya smiled as he looked at the little orange toad.

"Yo!" Gamakichi said in a rather pleasant tone. Jiraiya bent down to talk to the toad.

"Hey Gamakichi, I know your rather small, but I'd rather not summon toad boss right now. I need your help. You need to take Naruto over there and get him to the center of the forest. Big tower, there are medics there, he needs emergency medical attention." Jiraiya said to the small orange toad dubbed Gamakichi.

He saluted the large toad sage.

"Alright!" The little toad said as hit hopped over to the unconscious boy and hopped around him for a few seconds. All of a sudden, Gamakichi's mouth opened to an impossible width and height and promptly swallowed Naruto whole and hopped away towards the middle of the forest like this was an everyday occurrence.

Hiruzen's eyebrows furrowed at how someone at Naruto's size could fit in such a tiny frog. Jiraiya had a grin on his face as he looked at his long time mentor. The old man shook his head in wonder at how something like that could even happen.

Sometimes he questioned science in this world that they live in.

"I've seen stranger things in my time, but I'm not even going to bother to ask how Naruto can fit inside that tiny frog." Hiruzen said not even looking at Jiraiya. The white haired sage pouted before turning to face Minato and Kushina. His eyes narrowed as he examined their bodies.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say this is the jutsu Tobirama-sama was working on during the second shinobi world war. I was only Genin at the time, but still I remember him working on a jutsu that revives the dead… but that still leaves the question on why my old student Minato is here right now. He's supposed to be in the Shinigami's stomach because he used the Shiki Fūin to rip the soul of the Kyuubi and deposit it in Naruto." Jiraiya observed. Hiruzen nodded grimly.

"I was thinking the same thing. This is definitely Orochimaru's work. No doubt he's found a way to remove souls that have been trapped in the Shinigami's stomach. This is bad, Jiraiya… I remember the only way to beat these summons is to seal them." Hiruzen said. Jiraiya nodded in agreement.

"I'll take Kushina, I'll seal her away quickly, keep Minato off my back while I do my work. He has the Hiraishin so just be careful sensei. Once I'm done sealing Kushina, I'll help you with my student." Jiraiya said. Hiruzen chuckled slightly and turned to Jiraiya with an amused look.

"Be careful you say? When did you gather the courage to tell your sensei to _be careful_? I'm not called the _'Shinobi no Kami'_ for nothing you know." Hiruzen scoffed as he ripped off his Hokage cloak to reveal his shinobi armour and uniform resting underneath. Jiraiya laughed a little.

"How long has it been since I've seen you in that hmm?" Jiraiya chuckled slightly. Hiruzen did the same with a smile.

"Too long, my student… too long." And on that, student and teacher clashed with the mother and father of the nine tailed Jinchuriki.

* * *

They could feel it; Sasuke and Sakura knew they were getting closer to the center of the forest. Every now and then when an opening in the trees above them would appear, they would be able to get a glimpse of the tower. It had been a little over a day and a half since they entered the forest and already everything they had planned had fallen apart.

Sakura was worried sick about Naruto, all she could think about was if the smart, stubborn blonde was safe or not. How he would fair against the strongest Hokage which just happened to be his father, and he had to fight his mother. She had no doubt that Naruto was incredibly strong… but to fight them… and especially at his age and skill level?

She had little belief that he was actually going to survive!

Sure he was powerful, intelligent and incredibly skilled, but that didn't mean he was anywhere even close to scratching the surface of the level that the Yondaime Hokage was considered to be standing on when he was still alive. The first ever shinobi to be graced with and SS-rank bingo book status with a 'flee on sight' order.

Something inside of her sunk when she felt the large, distinguishable chakra of his and the Kyuubi's mixed together, drop significantly to dangerously low levels. It was like he was hanging onto life by a thread, she had half a mind of turning around and rushing back to his aid, if not for this damned snake on their backs.

She looked back and out of the corner of her eye, she could see the snake shooting towards both her and Sasuke, ready to devour them for supper. The killing intent in the snake's eyes and the conjurer of 'said' snake to go with it, it was almost enough to take out a kunai and end her life!

She was broken out of her thoughts when Sasuke tackled her out of the way, just in time to avoid the giant jaws of the snake slam into the tree branch they had just about to land on. The impact of the large snake almost caused the tree to collapse, but the tree held still as Sasuke held Sakura in bridal style as he stuck to the tree's surface.

"There's no running away from this guy is there? We have to figure out a way to beat him." Sasuke said as he put Sakura down. She instantly channeled chakra to her feet and stuck to the surface of the tree alongside him. She nodded grimly.

"Yeah, I don't know what he is, or what he wants with you… but I can easily tell that he's more than just a Jounin… in fact…" She said as her mind drifted. The man was standing on top of a snake, and if memory served, no snake this large ever existed… unless it was summoned forth by a jutsu, and the only person who had the ability to summon snakes was…

Orochimaru of the Sannin…

Sakura's thoughts went into overdrive. The man in front of them was no other than Orochimaru of the Sannin, the traitorous shinobi of the leaf who was forced into a missing-nin status when he was caught by the Sandaime Hokage while performing illegal experiments, biological experiments and genetically altering tests that were often performed on small children.

They were experiments that would range from infusing DNA from animals and putting them into humans, and from merging cells from bloodlines into regular humans; inhumane experiments that would forever be associated with the snake. There was no mercy, no guilty conscience to go with these actions. The snake simply abandoned his village to continue his sick, twisted desires.

But that left the question of why he was here right now, standing on top of a giant snake, confronting them… simple Genin participating in the Genin exams. He said he was after Sasuke and what did Sasuke have that no one else had in their team? Naruto was a Jinchuriki, so he could have been someone he was after, but no it was Sasuke!

There was nothing about her that was outstanding or special about her… she was a civilian born shinobi would talent in chakra control… but Sasuke? Sasuke was born into one of the villages most prestigious clans of all. The infamous and unrivaled Uchiha clan, who's only rivaling clan, was the Senju. And what made the Uchiha so distinguishable among-st the other Shinobi?

That's right, the Sharingan. This snake bastard was after Sasuke's Sharingan!

Of course this conclusion wasn't exactly hard to come to. She had all the pieces; she just had to put them together to make the bigger picture. Reading all those books did pay off after all, all the leaf's history and background really gave an insight on different things. And some of those insights would give motives to potential criminals, such as this one standing right in front of them!

"You're… You're Orochimaru!" Sakura gasped. Sasuke lost all the breath in his body. He was no stranger to one of the strongest shinobi of all time. Orochimaru of the Sannin, one of the three legendary ninja, a goal that Sasuke had to strive to reach ever since Itachi had managed to murder his clan.

The power and status he would need to bring his brother to justice and finally clear his conscience of all the bloodshed and darkness in his heart. He needed a clean slate, and Itachi was his key to that. Once he killed Itachi with the power that rivaled even those of the legendary Sannin… only then would he find peace in his heart.

"Are-are you serious Sakura? Are you sure that's _him?_ Of all the people that we could be fighting right now… it had to be one of the legendary Sannin?" Sasuke breathed. Sakura got down in a shaky fighting stance ready to fight along with Sasuke. She nodded grimly.

"Yeah… just look at his summon, that's a Summoning Technique, and the only person who can summon snakes is Orochimaru, other than his student Anko and she's the proctor of this exam. I highly doubt she would be trying to kill us right now." Sakura summarized. Orochimaru chuckled darkly, sending a shiver down their spines.

"I have to give you credit little girl, not many people are able to put two and two together when it comes to me. I see you were able to piece together who I am, and why I am here, just because I said I was after Sasuke-kun over there." He remarked making the pink haired kunoichi frown.

"I don't care if you're a legendary ninja or not, you won't be getting the Sharingan. I don't know how you would go about doing that, but I assume since this is you were talking about, it has to be the foulest, most revolting way possible." Sakura spat making the snake Sannin scowl and shrug.

"Humor me on how you are going to stop me from achieving my goal. As of right now, you two little Genin only managed to tickle my amusement. That little fight back there was more or less an observation of your skills. I didn't try to attack you, but instead the other way round. You realize if I wanted, you two would be dead in seconds?" He said in amusement.

The two Genin instantly tensed as the snake slithered forward and deposited the Sannin on a branch in front of the two members of team seven. He licked his lips as he stared at them hungrily, along with his snake summon.

"So, are you going to try and fight me again? Or are you going to try something new, because right now, my patience is running thin and I can already sense, Jiraiya-baka and Sarutobi-sensei entered the forest to confront me. Obviously Naruto-kun hasn't held up very well as his chakra has completely disappeared." He said. Sakura snarled while Sasuke remained passive.

She slowly reached into one of her special ninja pouches that lay at her side. She pulled out four scrolls, scrolls which she never thought she would have to use _ever_. These scrolls were given to her specifically by Naruto for dire emergencies. She remembered back to what he had said about them.

**_-Flashback—_**

Sakura had just been beaten into the ground for about the sixth time that day. It was closing in on the end of the five month period that they had been allowed to use for individual training. She was exhausted, covered in scratches and she was bleeding from the corners of her mouth. She literally looked like she had crawled through a mine field.

Naruto flashed over to the crater her body had made and rolled his eyes. She opened hers weakly and gave a weak smile as he tried her best to summon some of her energy to get herself out of the hole. Instead she was hauled out by Naruto and plopped on her feet.

She felt like collapsing on the spot, except Naruto had gifted her some chakra to allow herself to recover. She had to keep reminding him that she didn't recover at the insane rate that he did, and she had to rely on her medical jutsu to heal herself.

She sighed and put her left hand over her right shoulder. Surely enough, it started to glow green and the scratches and bruises started to fade and heal themselves. All by the meantime, Naruto had a hand on her other should and was rerouting his chakra into her own coils to give her enough chakra to heal herself.

Once she was done, she turned to Naruto and scowled at him.

"Baka, I'm sick of getting beaten into a hole by you. Every time you use that stupid chakra cloak made by that fuzzy fuzz ball that lives in your stomach, you get too powerful for me to deal with! It's so unfair." She sighed with anime tears rolling down her cheeks.

Naruto scoffed and reached into his pocket. Out of the pockets, he pulled five scrolls and tossed them to Sakura who only just managed to catch them in time without dropping them. She narrowed her eyes at him before she unraveled one and read the contents. Her eyes widened when she saw what was in the scroll.

"H-hey you know I was only joking that one time… You didn't have to do _that_." She said suddenly feeling guilty. Naruto scratched the back of his head with a blush.

"Well, you know it actually got me thinking… what if something like that actually worked? I know it's dangerous which was why I was going to suggest you only use it in dire conditions, you know… if you up against someone who was clearly stronger than you. Eh, think of it as like a last resort, dattebayo." Naruto said with a slight laugh.

Sakura looked at the scroll once more before putting them in her ninja pouches that held kunai and other poisons. She frowned with uncertainty at the young blonde Jinchuriki.

"You would go that far to give me some of _that_? You know what kind of damage that can do people other than yourself! It's dangerous." She said, Naruto smiled with a cheeky grin, somewhere in that blondes brain was still that cheeky idiot self. She knew his dobe mask wasn't entirely false. He still sometimes kept up that silly demeanor when they joked around and had fun.

Naruto's gaze turned serious.

"I know, it's a risky gamble of what that might do to you. However, it's better to use it against someone that can kill you easily, and not die, than die without as much as a challenge. I like to think of it as my own _version_ of the '_Hachimon (Eight inner chakra gates)'_." Naruto said as he turned away from her to gaze into the sunset.

"I'd like you to keep them on you… in case of an emergency… a fail-safe that you can rely on if you have no other option." Naruto turned back to her with a serious look on his face.

"Sakura, you are my teammate and one of the closest friends if ever had, next to Shikamaru. You live with me, and we've formed a bond, and I'd like to keep that bond until the day we die. That's why I'm giving you these… in case there is no other option." He said. There was silence as the wind blew, rustling the hair of both Naruto and Sakura.

She didn't know what to say, Naruto really, and truly cared for her. She was moved by his very words, the words that he would protect anyone that was precious to him, and she was one of his precious people.

"Thank you… Naruto." She said as single tear rolled down her battered and dirty cheek from intensive training.

**_-Flashback End—_**

She narrowed her eyes as she locked stares with the traitorous snake that once belonged to the very ranks of shinobi in Konoha, the very eyes that once wanted to protect the village hidden in the leaves from any sort of threat possible. She pulled out four scrolls and tossed two to Sasuke, who caught them with his eyebrows raised.

"Unseal them Sasuke, it's our only chance to even stand against this maniac." She said. Sasuke raised his eyebrows at this but followed the command without question. Whatever was in these scrolls was obviously some sort of power that would help them beat the snake.

At the same time, the two threw their scrolls into the air and made a hand seal before shouting the same word to unseal and use the scrolls to their own use.

"Kai!" They both yelled as the scrolls unfolded with a red glow around them. The change was instantaneous and absolutely incredible to the naked eye. The transformation was very noticeable as both Sasuke and Sakura grew fangs.

Their hair had stood on end and had become very wild, on each of their cheeks; three faint whisker marks formed and had become much defined. The last noticeable feature about this transformation was the orange transparent chakra cloak that formed around them in the shape of a fox. Both of their eyes had become red and the pupils had become slits. The chakra cloak had donned one single small tail behind them.

Sasuke and Sakura had donned a demon chakra cloak credit to the scrolls that Naruto had given her.

Orochimaru was absolutely dumbfounded by this sudden change of events as he narrowed his eyes on the forms that were now Sasuke and Sakura. Their appearances had become almost feral and wild, their chakra mixing with the fox's chakra.

"_Even when you are separated from the Naruto-kun, you still find a way to aid them… scrolls that contain a percentage of the Kyuubi's chakra… almost like an external chakra battery to increase all their physical attributes. Ingenious work, you really are your father's son."_ The snake Sannin mused in curiosity.

Meanwhile Sakura was smirking at the power running threw her veins and her chakra coils. She wasn't a Jinchuriki, but she could tell that the side effects of using these scrolls were quite obvious. Already she was starting to feel chakra poisoning, she could feel a slight tinge of her skin burning, but all of this was dwarfed by the amount of power flowing through her body.

"_Each scroll contains two percent of Kurama's chakra. If I were to use all five at once, I would suffer serious chakra poisoning, and would come close to almost burning all my skin off. I would also be a 'three tailed state' and would be in danger of falling prey to the negative emotions that run alongside this form._

_"Right now, both I and Sasuke are using a total of eight percent between the two of us. Four percent each and have the use of one tail. This chakra is incredibly large, and the physical additions and increases this form provides is incredible! Reaction time and all five senses have been increase to a feral level and added an animal-like sense to it… all up this form gives us an increase in all of our abilities, but after this form fades, we are left with first degree burns and heavy chakra poisoning. This form can last up to ten minutes maximum."_ Sakura internally explained.

This form was given to her by Naruto, who was also given permission by Kurama to use in last ditch efforts. Often, he had said that if she was forced to use this form, escape would be the number one option because if she was caught when the form disappeared, she would be in some serious trouble.

"Sasuke, we have ten minutes to knock this guy down and escape. This form has serious down sides that are only noticeable after it disappears… understand?" She said, however she got no response from the Uchiha, she turned to find him admiring his own power and form.

"Sasuke!" She screamed at the boy, quickly losing her temper, which in turn, was another side effect from the demons chakra cloak. He turned to her with a smirk on his face; he had never felt power quite like this before.

The power flooded his veins, his chakra coils felt like he had entered a state of ecstasy. He almost felt drunk with the power if he wasn't snapped out of it by his pink haired teammate.

"Sakura… this form and power… What power is this? Where did you get it?" He asked with widened eyes. She sighed and gave him the short version of her explanation.

"Naruto gave it to me as a last resort, dire situations like this one. Sasuke, this form is extremely unstable, if were not careful, we can die. We need to beat him down fast, and then escape before the side effects from this form can take effect." She said. Sasuke closed his eyes and opened them to reveal his Sharingan.

He looked at himself once more, his eyes widened when he saw just what this strange foreign, powerful chakra was doing to his body. Sure enough, as powerful as this power was, it was slowly poisoning his system. Not that he could feel it right away, but he could see it with his Sharingan. He could also feel the slight hot burning feeling against his skin.

He turned to Sakura and gave a grim nod.

"I see… I can see what it's doing to our bodies. It's a dangerous gamble alright. One slip up and we can go down here, but this power has also increase our physical abilities to new levels and our mental thinking rate to high speeds. Our reaction time has been tripled by this form. We need to at least knock him down fast, and escape before he can get back up again." Sasuke said as he got into a stance along with Sakura.

Orochimaru heard the young Uchiha and laughed. He hadn't heard something so ridiculous in his life! They knew full well he was part of the legendary Sannin, one of the best shinobi the world has ever seen, and yet… here they stand, thinking they even had a chance. He couldn't help but admire their foolish courage.

"Well, if you have the guts to stand against me, even knowing who I am, I have to say you little Genin have some iron will. I'm almost impressed; however I am not very amused." Orochimaru said with a frown. Sakura and Sasuke both growled and leaped forward to attack.

The snake Sannin's eyes widened at the speed they suddenly had gained. He was sure it was going to be a small increase in power. Was this the true unrivaled power of the Kyuubi no Yōkō? It was incredible! The two had suddenly gained Jounin level speed and were currently shooting towards him like a rocket!

He dodged easily, as he quickly used Kawarimi with the nearest log, making the Uchiha and the Haruno ruthlessly attack the piece of wood. They immediately located him, which Irked him a little, it was almost like they could sense him, he wasn't putting out any killing intent, and he wasn't exactly sure what other abilities that form gave them.

He heard a growl from behind him and spun around instantly. He was met with a round house kick to the face by the Uchiha, and then was met by a rib shattering, organ flattening sucker punch right to the stomach credit to Sakura.

The power behind the punch was simply inhuman; the power of the Kyuubi mixed with the incredible strength of Tsunade was enough to kill a man outright, however this man was the legendary Orochimaru, and he wasn't one to die to two measly little Genin with above average power.

This man lacked a spine, and could turn his body into a snake. His body would bend at impossible angles and he would slither around different attacks. The two attacked wildly, one after the other giving the snake Sannin no space at all to think.

He would use Kawarimi to get away from Sakura's strength, only to find Sasuke right on him, throwing punches and kicks and all slightly burnt the snake when he would parry or block. Every hit Sasuke managed to land on the snake damaged the snake in more than one way.

When Sakura would attack, Orochimaru would avoid all her punches and kicks, which in turn, made her absolutely furious. She couldn't land a single hit on him, and most of her anger was being amplified by the chakra cloak she had. However, the snake would brush her off, and when given the chance, knock her down and go back to Sasuke.

Whenever the snake went into mark Sasuke, he was met by a flash of the Kyuubi roaring at him when he got close to Sasuke's neck. It was like the chakra around them was alive, like it had an agenda of its own. It was that time when Orochimaru realized that while Sasuke had that chakra cloak around him, it would be almost impossible to mark him.

It was the incredible anger and rage of the Kyuubi protecting the young Uchiha from the Snake Sannin's intentions.

Since they weren't Jinchuriki, and the Kyuubi's power had been delivered from the scrolls, he summarized that he had ten minutes before he would be able to mark Sasuke, and that is what really pissed the snake off. He didn't have ten minutes, and he knew that his sensei and his idiotic teammate would be here soon, so he didn't have ten minutes.

As long as Sasuke had a small amount of the Kyuubi's influence around his body, it would be impossible to mark him. The sheer amount of corrosive burning chakra around their body was enough to burn his face off if he even tried to mark Sasuke. However, he wondered why it wasn't affecting them.

However there was another factor that was destroying his chances at marking Sasuke, and it was a certain pink haired kunoichi that, with the mixture of the demon fox's cloak around, her strength almost matched that of Tsunade. Her consistent interference was getting on the snakes nerves.

Whenever he would turn his attention to her, Sasuke would take advantage of his blind side and attack him unsuccessfully. He couldn't focus on one without worrying about the other, it was a frustrating game to play with the Genin of team seven, and he was running out of time. The demon foxes cloak was fairing to be an impossible factor to mark against, forcing the snakes hand.

Sasuke flew at Orochimaru with a _Chidori _in hand. The lighting in his hand was blue with a tinge of red and purple to it, influence credit to the Kyuubi's chakra. They had a good six minutes before the cloak wore off.

Sakura flew at the snake from the other side, ready to break every single bone in his body. The Kyuubi's chakra seemed to swirl around her fist as she gathered the necessary chakra to make the killing blow. Although they knew that even their combined efforts wouldn't be nearly enough to kill the man, it was enough to irritate him and force himself to defend himself.

Sakura threw her punch.

Sasuke's Chidori shot forward, aiming for the heart.

At the last second, Orochimaru smirked and dodged the attack, pushing Sasuke's arm in the process. The hand that was covered in lighting was shoved off course and headed towards someone who Sasuke really did not want to stab.

Sakura's eyes widened as the Chidori shot towards her, forced by the snake himself. The two caught eye contact just before it happened. There was a sound of tearing flesh as Sasuke's Chidori impaled Sakura right through the heart. Her eyes lost all colour and Sasuke's blood froze.

Orochimaru smirked as he landed on a nearby tree branch as he watched the situation unfold. He had to admit, it was a little cold of him to make Sasuke kill Sakura, but she was seriously starting to piss him off. Her Tsunade-like strength would prove to be a blockade in the future and he decided that he needed to take her out now.

Plus, right now Sasuke lacked the hatred needed to mark him with. It seemed Sasuke had calmed down about the whole Itachi subject; looked like Kakashi had done wonders with Sasuke over the five month training period. The masked Jounin did always have a way of turning people from the dark side. After all, he had been through it himself, he knew what it was like to walk the path of darkness.

Sasuke's eyes shook with fear as he looked at the pale Sakura. She looked at him in shock as his hand was still impaled in his chest. A stray tear dropped from his eye. He had no idea what to do. His mind was about to go into overdrive… until it happened.

The audible sound of a puff of smoke appeared right before him and Sakura vanished.

Sasuke and Orochimaru's eyes widened in disbelief, the latter being completely shocked! The snake Sannin had examined their chakra reserves the second the fight started! That pink haired girl should not have been able to create Kage Bunshin with the amount of chakra she had!

It was then that he had heard it. Right about the snake, Sakura was shooting down towards him like a speeding kunai. There was no escaping now, not even Kawarimi would be fast enough to dodge this attack. She was an inch away from smashing his face, and she did.

A loud crash echoed as the snake was propelled towards the ground like a rock being dragged down by the force that is known as gravity. He landed in a crater that his own body created from the full force of the punch.

Sasuke was still quite frozen from what had happened, however he was snapped out of his frozen thoughts when a pink and orange blur shot in front of him, grabbed his hand, and promptly dragged him off his feet.

There were no words, there was nothing to say. All their oxygen and energy could be spent talking after they get out of this impossible situation. They had a good four or five minutes left of the demon chakra cloak and they were starting to feel quite sluggish and sick. Their body was burning and their chakra coils felt like they had been stretched and abused.

They flew through the trees like mad flies, trying to escape from the disgusting snake that was currently residing in a pit of his own making. They didn't look back for they knew if they did, they were afraid they might be killed. The Kyuubi's chakra giving them the extra boost they needed to escape the jaws of death.

Finally once they had reached a safe distance, they stopped on a tree branch and looked backwards. They saw nothing but vegetation and trees. It was quiet, very quiet. Quiet enough to hear a single leaf drop and hit the ground. It was silent, and it was absolutely maddening. There were no insects chirping, no birds flying anywhere, and that's what worried the two.

Suddenly something occurred to the raven haired Uchiha who had been in a daze the whole time he and Sakura had been escaping. Something was missing from the picture, and he had only just figured it out.

"Wait… where's that huge snake he was with?" Sasuke whispered. Sakura suddenly froze. How could they forget about the _summoned creature_! Her eyes darted around madly, looking for any sign of the giant snake. It had delivered Orochimaru to the tree branch and simple vanished. Not with a puff of smoke, but into the shadows, which left the most obvious question-?

Where the hell was it now?

Before either of them could even react, a gigantic snake erupted from the ground beneath them and shot towards them like a rocket, its jaws wide open to swallow them whole. They had no time to react as the snake's mouth suddenly enclosed around them, digesting them into its stomach. The two fell into the darkness and pink bouncy flesh that was the snake's stomach.

However, what the snake didn't count on was the corrosive burning of Kyuubi's chakra surrounding the two members of team seven. After a few minutes of them tumbling around inside the snake's digestive system, the orange chakra cloak that was protecting them lashed out and started to burn the snake's insides.

Let's just say the snake had a serious problem of acid re-flux, and promptly threw the two up. Streams of smoke came out of the snake's mouth along with the two members of team seven. It hissed and shook it's head madly, trying to shake of the pain, but after a few minutes of having the corrosive chakra burn it's insides, the snake popped into a cloud of smoke and returned from whence it came.

The two were covered in the snake's acidic stomach fluids. Sakura wanted to hurl while Sasuke looked a little green. He looked at her with a weak smile on his face before he said something.

"Well, I guess he will watch what he eats from now on…" He joked lightly. They both hurled at the same time before slowly making their way to the tower that was now in sight. They had just only made it, and as soon as they got towards the door to lead inside the tower, the chakra cloaks around them ran out and they collapsed before the door.

They managed to drag themselves inside to safety, just in time for a certain snake Sannin to land on a nearby tree branch with a rather upturned scowl on his face. He watched as they crawled through to safety, and the chuunin and Jounin who were inside to welcome the Genin to the end of the second exam, rushed to their aid and carried them off to their beds to heal up.

The snake scowled.

_"This was quite an interesting encounter. I definitely wasn't expecting this; Naruto is truly an inconvenience to my plans with Sasuke-kun. That chakra cloak around him may have saved him from being marked this time, but I will be patient. Patience is the key after all. Success doesn't come to those who rush their work."_ Orochimaru thought as a smirk formed on his face.

He made a hand seal and vanished from sight, before anyone even knew he was there.

* * *

Every single person, be it shinobi, villager, child or even insect and animal felt the powerful chakra clash inside the forest. The ANBU were conflicted to watch the fight from afar or help their beloved Hokage and the almighty Jiraiya of the Sannin.

However, once they saw who they were up against, they promptly dropped all of their courage down the drain and settled just to watch instead, going up against the Yondaime Hokage and the Red Hot-Blooded Habanero. More of the older ANBU remembered the deadly combo from their younger days when they were still chuunin or just starting in ANBU.

It was a combo that guaranteed death to their opponents.

However, they were facing two extremely powerful shinobi, one was known as the Kami no Shinobi, and the other… well he is known as Jiraiya the toad Sannin, but most of the female ANBU knew him as a lecherous pig with no decency. The great legendary Jiraiya-sama had no respect from the female kunoichi that lived long enough to know what kind of pig he is.

However, they had to praise him on his fighting skills, which pig certainly knew how to fight and hold his own. He did after all teach the Yondaime, who was said to be the greatest Hokage ever. That being said, all of the ANBU decided it would be best to leave the fighting to the Sandaime and the Toad Sannin.

The battle between the Yondaime and the Sandaime was fairly even. The famed yellow flash was everywhere, his speed and precision unrivaled, however, the brains and intelligence of the Sandaime predicted every single move the blonde made.

"Naruto takes a lot after you Minato-kun." Sandaime said blocking countless punches and dodging a fair amount of Fūton jutsu that was fired at him. It was obvious that Kushina and Minato were unable to control their actions, however, that didn't leave a spot for casual conversation while they fought.

"Really? How was his life growing up? Was he respected and raised properly by Jiraiya-sensei and Tsunade-sama? It explains why he has become so powerful in his own right! I'm so proud he's my son." Minato said with joy as he flashed behind the Sandaime with a Rasengan in hand.

He slammed in into the man only to have the Sandaime melt into mud. Minato was kicked in the stomach and sent to a nearby tree. The Sandaime had a guilty look in his eyes as he continued to by Jiraiya his time while he worked on sealing Kushina, however the stubborn red head hadn't gone down yet and was giving Jiraiya a fairly hard time.

"Minato, I'm going to be completely honest with you. The Naruto you saw before you was a result of harsh treatment and neglect from the village. Jiraiya and Tsunade did not raise him, they left him alone to his fate as a Jinchuriki." Sandaime said with sadness reflecting in his eyes.

Minato said nothing and continued to attack.

After a few more minutes of constant fighting, Minato finally spoke again.

"Then why was he not helped? Why did he grow up alone, and especially, why does he have such a positive outlook on life? Shouldn't the lonely life of a Jinchuriki lead to hatred?" Minato said, hating every word that came out of his mouth.

The two were currently locked in a Taijutsu battle, allowing for the conversation to continue. Sandaime, while in a frighteningly powerful struggle with Minato, sighed and closed his eyes, allowing for a bead of sweat to roll down his forehead.

"I never thought I would have this conversation until the day I died. I thought I would only have to explain myself in the afterlife. However, Naruto grew up wanting to prove his existence to the village. He was neglected and ignored, sometimes, rarely on his birthday he was beaten and injured by the villagers. The only thing I could do at the time was assign ANBU to protect him." Sandaime explained.

It was easy to understand, the responsibilities of the Hokage were quite large, and Sandaime had enough on his plate after cleaning up what Minato left behind after the Kyuubi attack. He had only been in the office for a year or so before he was killed. There were still negotiations to sort out with Iwa and Kumo, which forced Hiruzen to clean up.

Having Naruto to protect was just another responsibility that was weighing on his shoulders. If Jiraiya and Tsunade had actually been the godparents he and Kushina had asked them to be, then maybe Hiruzen wouldn't have had just a guilty feeling in his eyes. The old man blamed himself for everything.

"Naruto was… a happy and bright boy for the circumstances and environment he lived in. I could only do so much. Tsunade was grieved with having both you and Kushina die, which was another factor in which aided her resolve to never return to the village, and you know Jiraiya, he had his spy network to keep up… and his books." Sandaime explained. Minato frowned slightly.

"Jiraiya-sensei said he would give up his _research_ once Naruto was born. Tsunade-sama said she would stop drinking as well. Obviously both I and Kushina-chan were lied to." Minato scowled as both Yondaime and Sandaime traded vicious blows. Hiruzen nodded with guilt.

He had thought he had trained Jiraiya and Tsunade well and raised them to be caring Shinobi… obviously that was slapped in his face when Orochimaru betrayed Konoha. It was a hard thing to accept that despite all the power and status that legendary Sannin had, they still had their own brewing problems to deal with. They weren't kami's; they weren't invincible like the shinobi world made them out to be.

They were powerful shinobi no doubt, but they were just as vulnerable to anything else just like any other human in this world.

"They both left and never returned. Jiraiya only returned about a week ago on my personal order. He was to help in security for the chuunin exams that your son is currently taking place in. It seemed he had managed to push aside the guilt of his students death, but when he returned, Naruto gave him a beating and Jiraiya said he had no excuse… so I bet my student is going to be making up for lost time." Sandaime said. Minato sighed and blocked another few punches from Sandaime, returning them full fold.

"Well, I guess better late than never then." Minato said with a weak smile. Sandaime scoffed slightly.

"_Too forgiving Minato… I know your angry inside; you're just too controlled to let it out. You always were the most self-controlled person I knew. It's what made you the best Hokage, even better than myself."_ Sandaime mused.

Sandaime found it quite odd that Minato hadn't asked about how Naruto had gotten so much power. He had told him that he grew up on his own with no one to help him, he had told him that many people hated Naruto and that he was neglected and abused at times, so he didn't exactly see why Minato had that glint in his eyes that he already seemed to know how Naruto had gained this power.

Over with Jiraiya, a similar conversation was told, however Jiraiya wasn't so lucky to receive the same softness that Minato had given Sandaime about Naruto's neglect. Instead, he seemed to add fuel to Kushina's increasing fire. He found himself dodging fists and kicks that Kushina seemed to be throwing herself, instead of the Edo Tensei's orders.

"YOU PERVERTED" She screamed as she threw her kicks and punches, Jiraiya dodged with a frightened look on his face. His eyes were wide and his mouth was slack-jawed comically as Kushina attempted to kill the ridiculous excuse of a sage.

"IGNORANT" She continued as she threw a high powered swipe towards Jiraiya's head. He ducked just in time for her balled fist to collide with the tree trunk that he was back up to. The tree trunk shattered and the tree fell on its side. Her hair was flowing like tentacles, wanting to grab and strangle the toad Sannin. He gaped at her insane strength.

"_First was Tsunade, then that mini-Tsunade – Sakura, then Naruto, and now Kushina! What did I do to deserve this?!" _He internally cried before sighing to himself, crying anime like tears as he lowered his head miserably.

"_Oh right, of course it's because of that. All that peeping has given me all this karma." _He thought as he jumped over another kick from Kushina, this time the force of the kick shattered another tree without it even connecting to her foot. Her rage had taken form and was now being released, intent on killing and ravaging Jiraiya.

"_Oh who am I kidding, it's because I left Naruto alone. I knew I shouldn't have done that."_ Jiraiya thought as one of Kushina's punches actually connecting with his cheekbone. His entire body vibrated before taking off like a rocket into a nearby tree. His face had made a permanent carving in the wood before me managed to un-stick himself from the tree and fall to the ground.

"BASTARD" Kushina said breathing heavily. She had never been so angry in her life… or her… after-life. Jiraiya lying on the ground with his face in the dirt, raising a comical white flag I the air. The Edo Tensei Kushina trotted over the perverted Sannin and stood above him, her eyes glowing red. He could have sworn she still had some influence of the Kyuubi in them.

She picked him up and personally made him her knew punching bag. She knew she was being controlled by the commands of the Edo Tensei, but after what she had been told by the perverted Sannin, she was going to enjoy beating on him for a while before he actually became serious and sealed her.

After a few minutes, Sandaime saw what was happening and rolled his eyes.

"Jiraiya! Stop screwing around and seal her! We need to go and see if Naruto is alright!" He ordered. Jiraiya sighed and quickly kicked Kushina away. He promptly snapped his nose back into place. The pain was intense but he had felt worse. If there was any one that had the highest resistant to pain, it was this old pervert.

"Alright sensei." Jiraiya said turning to Kushina and closing his eyes. She just huffed and put up her stance ready to attack. She smiled slightly and so did Jiraiya.

"Tsunade-sensei was actually right about that. Beating on you makes a real good stress release." Kushina said. Jiraiya scoffed and looked away with his arms folded.

"Oh please, stress? Come on, your dead! You don't have any stress." Jiraiya said. Kushina chuckled a little, wanting to scratch the back of her hand in cheeky guilt but her body would allow for that. Her body was a puppet on strings, but for some reason her face allowed emotions.

"Yeah, I guess so… but there was a sense of satisfaction when seeing your face warp with every punch I threw." Kushina said with a cheeky smile. Jiraiya growled as his eyes twitched in frustration. He was the legendary Jiraiya of the Sannin, Toad Sage of Mount Myōboku! He couldn't take that comment lying down! He was feared by his enemies and justice to all those who do evil!

Another audible smack and Jiraiya was flying into another tree. Hiruzen, Minato and a Kushina with a fist out stretched sweat dropped at the man's ridiculous self-monologue session. It was obvious when he did it, because he got a silly day dreamy smirk and arrogant look on his face when he did.

Jiraiya exploded from the rubble with a serious look on his face as he narrowed his gaze at Kushina. He finally got down in a stance, ready to disable her and seal her permanently.

"Alright, enough mucking around, I'm going to end this." Jiraiya said with a determined expression on his face. Kushina smiled slightly. However before the fight could even commence, a figure jumped down in the middle of the two fights. Sandaime and Jiraiya's eyes widened.

"Orochimaru." They both muttered at the same time. The man smiled and made a hand seal as two empty white coffins shot up from the ground. Instantly, Kushina and Minato lost all emotion in their faces as their heads lowered. They jumped back into the white coffins as the lids closed back on them. The coffins then sunk back into the ground.

It all happened so suddenly that the Sandaime and the Toad Sannin were completely too stunned to move. The Snake Sannin chuckled a little as he turned to his old sensei and old teammate, both where glaring at the snake like he was the worst kind of disease to catch.

"Oh come now, I expect more of a warmer welcome. What's with the sour faces?" The Snake mocked. Jiraiya growled, however before he could attack, he was stopped by the Sandaime who walked forward, his face stuck with seriousness and a tinge of disappointment and depression.

"Orochimaru… what do you want here. Why have you returned?" The Sandaime asked in a tone that refused to take anything but the truth as an answer. The snake sighed and chuckled a little bit more.

"I'd like to say a happy reunion, but I'd be lying. If only Tsunade-chan where here… oh the memories." The snake laughed. Jiraiya growled as he stepped forward, a fire storm burning in his heart. He narrowed his eyes on his ex-best friend.

"Don't you even talk about her! She has had enough heart ache as it is, she doesn't need your filthy face to remind her, what she has lost." Jiraiya spat. Orochimaru burst out into an evil chilling laughter. He licked his lips as he looked at Jiraiya.

"Such colorful words Jiraiya-baka… I never thought you had it in you to say such things. So what now? Kill me?" The snake edged. It was like he wanted them to try, to try and kill the person they used to fight together, bleed together and protect each other. However those feelings were long gone.

"I'd like to see you try… you see, Sarutobi-sensei, I finished _that_ jutsu." Orochimaru's smirk widened to that of a mad-man. He looked well and truly insane, and that's what worried the two legendary shinobi the most. A mad-man with power was never a good thing.

Hiruzen's eyes almost bulged out of his head.

"_He couldn't have… Is he really Immortal?_" He thought as his eyes shook with disbelief. The snake's laughs echoed through his old weary mind, eroding his mind away like water on a dirt bank. The man standing in front of him was just a reminder of the failures he had in the past, failures he needed to rectify.

"I see you have figured it out, however as much as I would like to say and catch up with old friends… I have things to do. I didn't seem to get done what I wanted to accomplish today, and you see… that makes me kind of unhappy." Orochimaru went on as he started to dissolve into mud. Sarutobi's eyes widened.

"_Doton Bunshin… he was really never here in the first place."_ He thought as he looked at the dissolve pile of mud that still managed to have the face of the snake in it.

"This won't be the last time we meet; next time… will be your last… Sarutobi-_sensei_" The snake mocked as he melted into a puddle of mud. It was at this very moment that about three squads of ANBU appeared, all kneeling before the Hokage.

"Orders Hokage-sama?" The captain said. Everyone was silent, even Jiraiya who looked at the ground in shame, a painful reminder of the past, a reminder that he couldn't save his friend from the darkness… and now he was too far in to save. The only way he could save the friend he once knew and fought for, was to kill him, and let his soul rest.

The old Hokage turned to the squad of ANBU, he sighed before he gave the orders.

"Return to the village, stay on high alert. Report any suspicious activities to me immediately. Dismissed!" He said as they all shouted their confirmations before disappearing into the shadows. Hiruzen turned to Jiraiya with a sad look on his face.

"Orochimaru is too far from the light to be saved now… I assume you can see that now." Hiruzen stated. Jiraiya just sighed and looked away; saying nothing to the old man, but the silence in itself was all the answer he needed to hear. Jiraiya was finally accepting that for peace, Orochimaru must die.

"Come Jiraiya-kun, we need to see if Naruto is alright." Hiruzen stated before disappearing in a swirl of leaves. Jiraiya stood in the same spot and didn't move, his thoughts taking him on an unwanted ride through his memories. Once he was done, he sighed and shook his head sadly, before disappearing into the forest.

* * *

Naruto lay in a white bed, with white sheets, covered in white bandages, and looking at a white ceiling while white lights where shone down into the white room. Everything was white… white, white, and white. Quite frankly he was on the verge of moving around to bleed some more. That way he would get to see some color, make sure he wasn't in heaven or some shit.

He had woken up not too long ago, his body feeling like it was on fire, the worst find of fire. He didn't even know how to cry because of the amount of pain coursing throughout his body. He wasn't sure how to cope with that amount of pain so he just lay there and stared at the ceiling. He hadn't even noticed the frog who sat on the night stand next to him.

Eventually, he got sick of the pain and retreated to his inner world where he lay in the sewer water and floated around on his back like he was in some kind of children's swimming pool. His blank emotionless eyes stared at the sewer ceiling.

Behind those eyes, playing over and over again were the events of him fighting his parents. His heart beat at its normal pace, but it felt like it was about to burst and shatter into a million pieces. At the time, he was so cranked up on adrenaline that he fought back as best he could, ignoring the sinking feeling that he was actually fighting his parents.

Eventually he floated into Kurama's cage, and the fox carefully picked up the blonde with one of his tails, and deposited the blonde on his back. Naruto just lay there motionlessly, there were no words exchanged, but Kurama knew what was going through the blondes head.

Hell, he lived here, he should know.

Naruto was feeling so much pain, both physical and emotional. It was too much for a child to cope with, and he may be a shinobi and an incredible one at that; but he was still twelve, and no twelve year old should have had to go through what he had just done. It was one thing to lose your parents when you were born…

But to fight them to the death as amusement for another person's benefit? That was unthinkable, and he should not have had to deal with that.

"It's cold." Naruto said in a monotone voice. Kurama just ignored him, knowing that what Naruto was referring to was the feeling inside of his heart. A feeling so cold it could be described as ice. There was no worse feeling that being cold on the inside, especially when you are as joyful and bright as Naruto was.

Kurama had watched Naruto from the day he was sealed inside of him, to now. Nothing had changed really. Naruto wasn't someone to dwell on this too long. Sure he had his moments of self-doubt and self-pity, but he always got past it.

All those days he spent crying because he had no idea why all those people gave him those glares, all those days spent wallowing in self-pity because he had no one to be with, no one to care for him except the Hokage. It all ended the one day the clouds cleared and the sun starting shining once again and Naruto had been reborn.

"_I'm going to become Hokage-ttebayo! Just you wait and see, I'll prove it to all of you!"_ The blonde had screamed at the crowd of people that had gathered. Kurama smirked at the small memory. The boy turned from a pathetic sack of meat to a boy of iron will. There were no more tears, no more self-pity…

There was only that harden gaze in his ocean blue eyes, the eyes of a fighter. Was there anything Naruto couldn't do? Yes, there were a lot of things he couldn't do, but that did mean he wasn't going to try and not give it his all. He was a boy that when the idea of giving up would present itself, he would laugh at hit and rudely tell it to shove it.

He wasn't invincible, no not by a long shot. That was proven today when he was beaten senseless by his resurrected parents. Kurama could only silently thank Jiraiya and Sarutobi for making it in the nick of time to save Naruto's ass. There are always people that are better than you out there, always people that you will meet that will be a step ahead of you.

The question is, how are you going to climb those steps to surpass that person?

As Naruto lay on Kurama's back, he continued to gaze up at the ceiling. Kurama grumbled as his head turned to look at Naruto who was sprawled out on his red furry back.

**_"Alright Naruto… that's enough, you have lived long enough to know that wallowing in self-pity and emotional sadness isn't going to get you anywhere."_** Kurama said as Naruto slowly sat up and grinned weakly. His eyes were still blank of emotion, he was extremely exhausted. Even in his mind, he felt weak; it was like his body was made of noodles.

"Yeah… I figured you'd come to that conclusion sooner or later." Naruto said as he jumped off Kurama's back. He landed on his feet in the water before falling to his knees. He slowly got back up again and walked towards the exit of the cage.

Before he was about to exit his inner world, he turned to Kurama who was lying on his paws like he normally did. The fox was anything but bored and Naruto – could see the gears turning in the giant fox's head. Seeing his old jailer again reminded him of what he could have done if he hadn't been so arrogant and evil. It obviously hit a nerve, but being the almighty Kyuubi that he was, he refused to show weakness.

"Hey Kurama." Naruto said turning his head to face the fox. Kurama didn't reply, instead he just turned his eye to look at the young twelve year old Naruto, regarding the boy with a simple eye movement; Naruto knew the fox was listening.

"Thanks for being here for me. It means a lot." Naruto said with a smile and vanished. Kurama stared at the spot for a few moments before smirking and closing his eyes. Naruto was growing up fast, much faster than a kid his age should be growing at. But he was no ordinary kid, no – not by a long shot.

**_"Tch. What a brat, uses me as his soft furry toy for closure! If I were my old self Naruto… you would have been dead a long time ago."_** Kurama mused to himself as he returned to his slumber. He had to excessively feed his chakra through their link at a constant rate. That made sure that during the fight, Naruto had a constant forty percent control over his chakra and Kurama's.

It made the fox tired, and now he needed his sleep… or fox nap, whatever living chakra beings do for rest.

* * *

Naruto opened his eyes to the sound of snoring. He wasn't exactly sure how much time had passed since had been in his mindscape since it seemed to be pretty inconsistent most of the time. He turned his head ever so gently to the side to see Sakura and Sasuke in similar beds of his own.

Their skin was bright red and they seemed to be coughing every now and then. His eyes narrowed before they widened at the cause. He could sense Kurama's chakra in their chakra coils. Sakura had used the scrolls he had given her for emergencies only!

He couldn't exactly growl at her for using them. If that man was capable of summoning his father and his mother to fight him, then he must have been a seriously powerful shinobi, probably on par with most S-rank criminals. However the man didn't seem familiar at all, his chakra seemed dark and just plain wrong, but he would know if that man was S-rank.

Hell, the village should have noticed if an S-rank Shinobi just waltzed right into the middle of a chuunin exam, but that left why they were targeted specifically. The man had said that they were going to be tested, and Naruto's test was if he could fight his parents, so that left the obvious fact that this man had been deliberately targeting them right from the start.

The man had said he had some sort of agenda with Sasuke. That was what annoyed Naruto the most; the man had come fully prepared, ready to take Naruto out of the equation so that he wouldn't have to deal with him. That left Sasuke and Sakura to defend themselves and from the looks of it, Sakura had to resort to using the scrolls that had Kurama's chakra inside of them, only to be used if she was in dire need of them.

Judging from the wounds, Sakura had probably split eight percent of Kurama's chakra between her and Sasuke to give them more of an advantage. She had some crazy burns on her skin, she looked incredibly ill, no doubt because of Kurama's demonic chakra invading her system, and she looked completely drained.

It was the same story with Sasuke.

How could these exams have gone so wrong so fast? First Sakura was almost killed, now he was almost killed and Sakura and Sasuke were in an unstable condition! He thought they were the best team here, he thought they could take anyone on… but that was only slightly true.

Sure they could take any Genin team on, but that was it! This man they had encountered was mindbogglingly powerful and unpredictable that he had caught them off guard from the start of their encounter. He was different, something about that man just seemed off, even now just thinking about it.

…that smile that craved blood…

…that crazed look in his eyes…

Everything about that man screamed danger and Naruto blindly fell straight into that trap. He thought he could take the man on by himself. He cursed his stupidity. He should have grabbed both Sasuke and Sakura and used his Nine Tailed Chakra mode's speed to get away from there as fast as possible.

Now here they were; he was critically injured with Kurama's chakra slowly mending his body back together. He would be better in about three of four hours, but it would take about two days to regain his chakra and Sasuke and Sakura, probably a day or two to mend their wounds. However Sakura was a medic-nin in training so she might be able to speed up her recovery along with Sasuke's, just a matter if she had the chakra to do it.

As he lay in his bed, he let his thoughts wander for a while. Thinking back on the past events, the group called the Akatsuki was after him because of Kurama, Iwa wanted his head because of his father, this man wanted something from Sasuke. It all seemed too much to think about. He was already tired from his fight, and now all this thinking was making him even more exhausted.

Before he closed his eyes to let his sleep take him once more, he thought about something. He got this feeling that something very soon was going to happen, something really, really bad. It was just a matter of time before it happened… and for some reason…

…he felt like he was going to be in the center of all of it.

* * *

A/N: Alright and that's a warp! An Action packed chapter for all of you.

Now I'm sure there's going to be more people complaining about this chapter. I'm starting to add my own spin on things like I said i was.

Now I got the idea of the Sealing of Kurama's chakra in scrolls from the Manga chapters where Naruto gives everyone in the shinobi alliance a Demon Fox chakra cloak. I thought that was pretty cool so i thought "Hey, why not have it sealed in scrolls for people to use like a solider pill?" I seemed to like the idea.

Yes, Naruto got his ass handed to him. Effectively I think anybody who fought Minato and Kushina at the same time would get fucked over, apart from maybe Pein and obviously Madara. I made Naruto get his ass handed to him for a number of reasons. One of them being to show you guys that he isn't invincible, and he can lose battles. It won't be often, don't get me wrong, there will be moments were Naruto is the Ass kicking ninja we all love, but what's a story without a bit emotional pain?

If you hated this chapter and now hate where this story is going/ think it's ridiculous or that I have gone overboard, and literally want to strangle me and blow me up, then don't flame. Just do the following... Un-favorite, un-follow. Done. You are honestly wasting your own time flaming because I never read them anyway. Instead, I get a nice cup of coffee, sit down and laugh at you for wasting your time writing a review which only has a purpose of intending to put me down. Constructive criticism is different, I like that.

Lastly, if any characters seem out of character, just P.M and tell me so I can fix it in future.

I can't please all of you, that's an impossible dream which i'd like to do, but i know it's impossible.

Anyway, thanks and i'll see you guys later. P.M if you have any questions.

Next Chapter: Reassurance and Handicapped Battles.


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